


Monster Beneath My Bed

by JET_MacLeod



Category: Monsters Inc (2001), Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-18
Updated: 2018-06-18
Packaged: 2019-05-25 03:52:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 14
Words: 31,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14968520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JET_MacLeod/pseuds/JET_MacLeod
Summary: How far would someone go to get help for a girl that doesn't respond? Enter everyone's favorite CDA Agent 0001, Roz. She's determined to not let one problematic child fall through the system. But, when Regina agrees to help, she doesn't realize that she isn't the going to be the "real" monster. Monster's Inc Crossover, but a OUAT fic. Taken liberties w/ timelines. Trigger warnings





	1. The Problem Arises

**Author's Note:**

  * For [To all the Kids that needed someone like Scylla there for them...this is for you!!!](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=To+all+the+Kids+that+needed+someone+like+Scylla+there+for+them...this+is+for+you%21%21%21).



Roz sat in her office looking over the paperwork in front of her. The girl in question had been through five of her best in the last few months. Some of the monsters that went to her at night didn't make it through that night. She was an enigma and something had to be done. She hadn't had a single child under the eight lost before and she wasn't going to let this little girl be the first.

  
She studied everything about the girl. She needed to have a complete idea on what to do before she went to see Mr. Sullivan about it. "Sully" had turned things around after the Waternoose scandal. He worked with the CDA very closely and wanted to make sure that every child was given the right monster for the job. Looking over the file, she determined that there wasn't a monster alive that could elicit a necessary response, fear or humor. The child simply was immune to them. But, she had to find someone or something that would elicit a response, any response.

  
She looked across her desk. She knew who she could call, but she couldn't do that until she met with Sully. It would be his call. If he said no, they would just destroy her door and move on. She would become one of the "Unreachables." Usually a child didn't reach that stage until eight, but just like things under Waternoose, some children were younger. But, she'd never had that. She moved monsters around to keep them active until they reached the age of eight.  
She gone to such links as pulling monsters that didn't even work for MI to get a response. Such special cases were handled by the CDA and Sully personally. She wondered if this child would get escalated as such. Sighing she poured over the file one more time, knowing that it was going to happen and she would still be in charge of the case. She sighed but continued to review everything that she had about the case.

  
Five monsters in five months. Three houses in the same time. No reaction. One threat of quitting MI completely. She wondered if even Sully could get a reaction out of her, but Sully didn't scare any more. He just made sure that MI ran without any issues and at its best possible capacity.  
She was so upset about this case that she'd started handing the new cases to Celia. There was just something about this case that wasn't adding up and she was determined to figure it out. She packed up the files and called upstairs to Sully's office. After asking for a meeting, she slithered her way to the elevator and made her way to his office. She was immediately shown in.

  
"This must be important, Roz, if you’re coming straight to me with it," Sully said in greeting as he followed her into his office.

  
She handed the file. He opened it and looked over it. He seemed as distressed as she was about it.

  
"Any thoughts?"

  
"Yes."

"I'm not going to like it, am I?"

"I'm going to have to go outside of MI to get someone to help," Roz explained.

"A forest monster, a river monster? Give me something, Roz. I know you don't need my approval, being the lead agent of the CDA and all, but I need to know who you are bringing in," Sully told her.

"It isn't a monster per se," Roz said.

"Isn't a monster?" Sully asked as he dropped the file on his desk.

"I'm going to need to take a few days. I'll leave Celia in charge while I'm gone. But, I don't believe that there is anyone in Monstropolis that can help with this case, Sully. I've even thought about heading over to Zootopia, but I don't think that they'll work either."

"You have something in mind."

"I do."

"Should I be worried about this?"

"No," Roz said trying to assure him.

"I trust you, Roz. I hope that this doesn't cause any issues, but with them not being a monster, you're going to need clearance to bring them into the factory. I am sure that you can go through the CDA to get that, but I am not going to stop you. Whatever you need, but please don't use them on a scare floor. If you are bringing something in from another realm, I don't want the other monsters to know. We don’t need the same type of panic that Boo created."

"I understand that sure. Besides it's a human, I think. They just won't be from Earth. There is another realm and I'll be pulling them from there. I'll have to get them to agree to it first. I'll make sure that all the protocols are followed for them to go through the door. I'm not sure that I'll even need to bring anyone back. They have their own way of dealing with things. They may not even need the door."

"Do what you have to do, Roz. I am sanctioning this for you. I'll send out a memo if I need. You've got your time, but I expect a full report on my desk as soon as you get back to Monstropolis. And, I want an assurance that this isn't going to cause humans to visit on a regular basis."

"No, sir. Hopefully, this will be a one time thing. I'll leave right away."

"And, Roz?"

"Yes, Sully," she replied.

"Make sure that no one else finds out about this. Not even Mike or Celia. As far as I'm concerned this is official CDA business and Monsters Inc. is working with them. This has nothing to do with anything that we do at MI except for the supplying of a door, got it?"

"Got it."

"Have a nice trip, then, Roz," he told her as he handed her back the folder.

She slithered out of his office and back to the elevator. Once she was back in her office, she sent two official emails. One was to Celia, explaining that she was taking some personal time and that she'd be in charge of the new cases and intakes until she returned. She could delegate the intakes, but Celia was to maintain the new cases personally. If any problems were to arise before Roz got back, Celia was to consult with Sully on them. The second email was to the head of the CDA and to Sully. She was outlining her plan a little more and informing them that it was for the safety of Monstropolis and Monsters everywhere. She knew that Sully agreed with her assessment after reading the file. She knew that Sully backed her. She just hoped that the head of the CDA agreed with her choice in methods. She knew that she courting danger by going outside of Monstropolis, but it couldn't be helped.

She went back to her house and prepared for her journey. She knew that she would have to make the trip outside of main city of Monstropolis. She couldn't risk any of the other monsters. She packed a small bag and made her way out to the copse of trees. She made sure that she sprayed her trail with slime-b-gone so no one could follow her. She dug into the pack and pulled out a small, clear bean. She tossed it at the ground.

As she hoped that she would arrive in the correct land, she slithered forward and fell into the portal. She knew that it was a long shot that she would get them to agree to help. Crossing realms and worlds was not something in her job description, but there was definitely something about this case that just wouldn't let her let go of it. She hoped that it would be enough to convince them for help. After all, he'd come to her many, many years ago in hopes that he would find his son. She'd found him, but he'd outgrew her reach before she officially assigned anyone to him. She did however give him a realm, a realm that she knew very well. He couldn't get there on his own and she wouldn't dare to let him use a door.

She found his palace relatively easily and made sure that she didn't leave too much of a trail. Her presence wouldn't be unwelcome, but she didn't want to take any chances of getting hurt while there. She knew how humans view things that they couldn't understand. And, she didn't want to become another statistic. She had a job to do and she was determined to see this through.

She made her way through the gardens and the courtyard to the main door. She wasn't surprised that it wasn't guarded. He honestly didn't need it. She knocked on the door and backed up. She waited, but while she waited, she took in his castle. It was rather big and ostentatious, but she really didn't expect anything less from him.

The door slowly opened and a golden man with strange eyes opened it.

"Yes, Dearie?"

"I've come to ask a favor."

"Oh, really?" he asked.

"You owe for finding your boy," Roz told him.

"Oh, I suppose I do. What is it that you think that dear old Rumplestiltskin can do for you? Did you lose a monster, again?"

"No. Nothing like that. We haven't had a loss since the Abominable Snowman was banished, but that was years ago. We have a problem, which I believe that you can help with," Roz replied.

"And, what would that be?"

"We have a child that is unafraid of our monsters. She also doesn't seem to care about their existence. And, without her acknowledgement, the realms outside of Earth could continue to deteriorate. I know that she is but one girl our of millions of children that we use to power our realm, but if she has no imagination..."

"Then the stories will be forgotten and our land will perish as well, I know the legend. There are other children who will keep the story alive. I have no fear of one child," he stated.

"You should," Roz replied.

"Why?"

"Because she is young, much too young to be waving off monsters and such. And, if she can convince others... It becomes a ripple effect. Usually this doesn't happen until around the age of eight, but she is barely five," Roz explained to him.

"I have someone who might help you. She's angry and can be very, very temperamental. I am not sure if she'll agree to help you, but it couldn't hurt. She is actually a student of mine. And, her anger makes her a spectacular monster, even if she doesn't look the part."

"Can I meet with her?"

"I'll arrange it. Say tomorrow around noon. Until then, I'll have Belle take you to a room. I don't believe that I have to tell you to stay on the castle grounds."

"No, you don't. We still come to the children from this realm, mostly from under the bed. Doors tend be a little more tedious here."

"Well, I'm glad that I was able to arrange a new crop of children for you to use. But, you have been honest with your search for my son, so I am indebted to you. I will arrange this meeting and try to convince her to help you. I will also allow you to use my castle for your experiment."

"That won't be necessary, Rumple. I need a door and I can't do that here. I will have to take this person back with me. But, don't fret too much. I already have something set up and in mind to help them."

"As you wish, Dearie. But, do remember. Everything comes with a price."


	2. Nightmares in Neverland

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just to warn you as a reader, the chapters will move back and forth from past to present...this one is considered present for the story, but you'll see the timeline move forwards with each chapter.

There were a lot things that Emma was prepared to do. Die for her kid was high on that list. Sleeping on the ground while her parents renewed their love for each other just feet away wasn't one of them. She grabbed her bedroll and moved to other side of camp, away from her parents and away from Hook. He was just awkward and he smelled like rum all the time. Also, he reminded her of someone that she couldn’t quite name and the thought disturbed her more that she let on.

"Is there something that I can do for you, Saviour?" Regina asked her as she watched the blonde roll out the bedroll right next to her.

"I feel safer over here," Emma quipped.

"With me?"

"Well, given my choices," Emma replied pointing around the campsite. "Hell ya. Is that going to be a problem?"

"None whatsoever. Good night, Emma. Get some sleep."

Emma bedded down and rolled away from the fire. She wasn't cold and she didn't need the light. She felt herself start to drift off. A blanket covered her and she succumb to her fatigue.

Regina caught herself watching Emma. She didn't know why but she felt some sort of way about her. She didn't have a name for it and honestly, she didn't want to define it. She wasn't as angry with Emma about her being Henry's mother. They were both worried and she was glad that she actually had someone to talk about it with. Snow and Charming were well...Snow and Charming. And, Hook was just a drunk pirate who thought he stood a chance with the blonde.  
The more she thought about it the more she realized that there was something behind the blonde's green eyes that she understood. It called out to her like a siren to sailors and she wasn't sure that she wouldn't dive headfirst into the danger that the Saviour could be. It was almost like she could forgive her for being Snow and Charming's daughter because honestly, she wasn't as optimistic as they were. She was cynical and Regina knew that Emma had seen some things in her years in the foster system.

She laid back on her bed roll. She'd taken her blazer off and was using it as a pillow. The ground was hard, but it wasn't something that she couldn't deal with. She thought about using some magic to conjure up a softer surface, but she didn't want to waste her energy. She also knew that if she did, then she'd have to make one for everyone. Rolling onto her side, she looked at Emma as she slept. She looked troubled.

Regina wanted to reach out and comfort her, but she held back. Mostly because she didn't understand why she wanted to in the first place. And, because she knew that Charming might actually cut off her hand if she so much as dared. He was actually starting to grate on her nerves more than normal, but it was just because of how stupidly protective he was being of Emma.

She understood Emma's frustration with them. She wasn't a little girl or a baby. She was a grown woman and she'd fought for everything in her life. Snow and Charming may have fought but it wasn't as a means of survival. Fighting Regina wasn't for survival, it was for pride and a misguided sense of justice. Emma was a casualty of that war and both sides were still paying for that. Regina sometimes felt like she was solely to blame, but she honestly hadn't forced Charming to put Emma in the wardrobe.

She heard a slight whimper. She turned back to Emma and looked at her face. The blonde seemed to be in pain or fear. She couldn't actually tell.

She raised her hand and wiggled her fingers. Emma's face relaxed and she fell into a deeper sleep. She wanted to know what was causing Emma's distress, but she didn't want to invade her mind. There were other ways to do it, but she didn't have what she needed there. She laid back and stared up through the canopy of trees to the stars above.

They were all wrong. All the stars she'd been looking at for the last almost thirty years had been wrong, but looking at these stars actually gave her a more emotional response. She hated grief. She hated pain, but that was honestly all she knew. Letting out a sigh, she turned away from Emma and tried to go to sleep.

Sometime before the dawn, Regina woke. She thought it was to a blood curdling scream, but as she surveyed their little camp, no one else was awake. She extinguished the fireball in her hand and moved to stand up. She looked around again. This time she saw Emma thrashing. She moved closer to the blonde and put a hand on her shoulder.

Emma awoke with a start. Thankfully she didn't sit up and bash Regina in the head, but her hands flew up into a defensive position. Regina just gave her a weak smile and waited for her to focus. That was when Regina saw her eyes.

Emma's eyes, which had always been a sort of odd green for Regina, were almost electric. There was a distinct tinge to them that Regina had only seen once before. She was transfixed for a few seconds and then Emma blinked. The color faded back into Emma's natural color and Regina righted herself a little as she pulled back.

"What happened?"

"I don't know," Regina replied.

"You don't know? Then why are you over here? And, why are you looking at me like that?"

"I woke up because I thought I heard a scream. I looked over and you were thrashing around on your bed roll. I tried to wake you. Something must have tore you out of your dream, but you were on the defensive. So, I just stayed nearby until I knew that you were fully awake. Now that you are, I'll start about making something for us to eat for breakfast."

Regina didn't wait for her to answer. She moved away from Emma quickly and over to the fires. She reignited it and started moving around to cook something.

Emma just watched her as she conjured a camp coffee pot. She wanted to laugh, but she couldn't. The dream was still very real to her and it terrified her. She thought she was over the dreams, but obviously she was wrong. She didn't know what it was about Neverland but she didn't want to be there anymore. She wanted to go home...or back to Storybrooke...or Boston...anywhere but where she was right now.

After a few minutes, Regina handed her a mug of coffee. Emma took it gratefully and downed it. She looked across the camp at her parents. They were wrapped up in each other and they had no idea what she'd honestly been through without them. Regina wondered if they'd actually ever talk about it. She doubted it and Emma didn't look like she was ever going to make the first move. She respected that, because Emma knew that everything wasn't always rainbows and sunshine.

"Thanks for the coffee," Emma told her as she handed Regina back the mug.

"You looked like you needed it."

"Are you ready to go?"

"Breakfast?" Regina asked as she pointed down to the fire.

Emma just shook her head. She wanted to move. She needed to move. Henry needed them, but she knew that Regina was right. They needed to keep up their strength if they were going to beat Pan. He didn't follow his own rules. Everything was a game to him and they needed to figure out how to get ahead of him. Regina thought that it had to do with map. Emma thought that it had to do with herself and her upbringing.

"Thanks for waking me earlier," Emma said quietly.

Regina turned and looked at her. She waited to see if Emma would say more. When she didn't, Regina didn't push.

"Do you need something to help you sleep?" Regina asked her.

"Like magic?"

"Maybe, I don't know. But, this morning was worse than last night. You whimpered most of the night."

"But, you did something to help me sleep, Regina?" Emma asked her.

"I gave you some peaceful dreams. Evidently it wasn't enough if the scream I heard this morning had anything to do with them. But, it is up to you, Dear. I don't want you think that you need it if you don't. But, offer stands. I promise. I wouldn't do anything to harm you here. We need each other and Henry honestly wouldn't forgive me if something happened to you."

"Nor would my parents."

"You see, I don't really care what they think. I do care about Henry. And, Henry cares about you, so..."

"I get it. You'll only help me to get in good with the kid. Can't say that I fault you there, but I'll be fine. It...it...it isn't something that you need to worry yourself over. I'll be able to deal with it. I just want to get Henry and get the hell out of here. This whole place is one giant nightmare," Emma told her as she grabbed a piece of toast from near the fire and stomped out into the jungle.

Regina woke everyone else up. She decided that it was best to give Emma her space. She needed to process whatever she needed to and Regina couldn't help her unless she asked. But, then again, Regina was still thinking about why she felt the need to help Emma. There was something that she didn't understand about the Saviour and it was niggling at the back of her brain. She'd pushed it to the back of her mind while she tried to out plot Peter Pan.

She watched as Hook, Charming and Snow cleaned up the camp. She stared at the ground and waited for Emma to come back. She wondered if she'd pushed her too far the day before. She needed Emma to tap into her natural magic. Being a child of True Love afforded her things that Regina had to work at daily, but Emma was letting it go to waste because she didn't want to believe. She wondered if her being in the middle of the jungle on Neverland was over loading her brain. Even for Regina, Neverland was just a tale. It was another realm and one that she'd never been to, and now, she was glad.

"Regina?"

"What, Snow?"

"Why are you protecting Emma?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You saved her from Greg and Tamara. You could have let them do whatever to her, but you stopped them. I saw you," Snow told her.

"Because I was more interested in causing those two pain," Regina stated.

Snow watched her. She looked deep into her eyes and Regina hated it. Snow had always been able to read her, even when she used magic against her. It was Snow's inherent purity and it made her sick to think about. She knew that she pixie-haired brunette meant well and was worried about her daughter, but there was more to it. It was like Snow saw something that she didn't and that was going to irk her to no end for days.

"If you say so," Snow said as she gathered up some things and headed back to Charmings side.

Regina just let her go. There was nothing else to say to her anyway. Henry was their priority and that was what she needed to focus on. Shaking thoughts about Emma from her head, she moved to the edge of the tree line to look for her anyway.

Emma came back into the clearing that they had been using as their campsite. She had the map in her hands and pointed in a direction. Everyone took off in that direction. Regina stayed back to bring up the rear and to make sure that no one snuck up on them. She didn't trust the one handed wonder or the love-sick Charming to do it.

After a while, Emma dropped back and let Snow blaze the trail. She just kept giving her clues on where to go. Regina didn't notice until Emma was falling into step with her. She looked over at the blonde and quirked a single eyebrow in question.

"Have you ever used magic on me before?" Emma asked her.

Regina looked perplexed. She'd thought about it, but all of the spells or magic that she would have used against Emma would have resulted in her death. She honestly hoped that she was past murdering someone, but then Pan had to go and take Henry and the Evil Queen was rearing her ugly head again.

"No, I haven't."

"You're sure?"

"Emma, I didn't know who you were until you showed up on my doorstep. And, if I wanted to use magic on you, I would just take your heart. Fortunately for you, I can't do that. So, no, I haven't used any spells on you until last night. Why?"

"I don't know. I am not sure. I just have this crazy sense of déjà vu when it comes to being this close to you, here," Emma told her.

Regina looked at her. Her eyebrow cocked in question, but she didn't speak. She couldn't, because she saw that same electric color in Emma's eyes again.


	3. Recruiting

Roz was in the quarters that Rumple had given her. She studied the file some more. She wasn't sure that this would work, but she had to try. She couldn't let the girl grow up too fast. She knew that the Monsters' symbiosis on the emotions and reactions was what kept them alive, but she was just one girl. She didn't know why, but this girl was marked.

She'd heard of this in the past, but she had never seen it in her years with the CDA. Mostly because they were stories, legends really in Monstropolis. She wondered what possible fresh hell of a demon that Rumple would bring to her. She knew that he was the one person that she couldn't trust, but he said that he would help. She wondered what was in it for him, but she decided the less she knew from him, the better off she might actually be.

There was a knock on the door. Roz turned around and mumbled as she slithered across the room. Her worry for the girl overcame any apprehension that she might have had by in the human fairy tale world. She opened the door and was met with a young woman.

"Are you Roz?" she asked.

"I am," Roz answered in her naturally smoky, gravelly voice.

"Rumple said that you had some sort of test for me," she told the monster before her.

Roz wanted to laugh. Rumple had lied to the woman and she wanted to know why. She, however, knew that it wouldn't matter. This was the person that Rumple was giving her to try and help the child in question. She would do what she could with what she was given. At this point, she couldn't be too choose-y. Unless she wanted to go herself, which she couldn't. She was too old in Monster years to have any interaction with the child.

"After a fashion, yes."

"You're from one of his distant realms, aren't you?"

"You could say that," Roz replied.

"Hmm...I am not sure what this test entails, but Rumple seems to think that it will help me with my magic. So, whenever you are ready to go, I am at your disposal," the woman told her.

"What's your name?" Roz asked her.

"Rumple didn't tell you?"

"No."

"Oh, well, then I guess introductions are in order. I am Queen Regina of the White Kingdom. Rumple has been my teacher in the magical arts since just before my wedding to King Leopold," Regina told her.

"And, yet he gives me a queen to help a monster."

"Monster?"

"Yes, my dear...your majesty," Roz corrected herself. "I am from a race of beings called Monsters. We are the ones that go bump in the night. We come from your   
wardrobes and closets. We live underneath your bed. We thrive off your fear."

"I fear nothing. I don't run from monsters. They run from me," Regina said with a hiss.

Roz looked her over. She was nothing special. She didn't stand out in her mind. The darkness of her dress and her long hair might have made her seem unapproachable, but Roz could use that.

"Well, then, good."

"What's your test, slug?" Regina demanded, her impatience showing.

"It's more of a mission rather than a test. I need your help if possible in seeing why a child isn't afraid of monsters or why she has no reaction to us at all. It isn't normal in someone of her age and honestly, I've run out of options."

"So, you asked the Dark One for help?"

"He owed me a favor of sorts," Roz answered.

"Then, I guess I am your favor. What exactly do you need me to do? Scare some child? That shouldn't be so hard. I scare lots of people, adults and children alike. I am not known for being nice," Regina told her.

"Being nice doesn't matter. Are you willing to listen to me? And, can you come with me, now? Time is of the essence," Roz replied.

"Rumple wouldn't have called me here if he didn't have some plan for my absence, so I'm free to do whatever it is you need me to do. My war with Snow can wait.   
Besides, this might give a new idea on something to use against her," Regina quipped like she was bored.

"Good. Meet me in the forest in half an hour and dress a little more comfortably. Dresses like that won't be needed. We'll be traveling for a while and I'll tell you about the case. Until then, your majesty," Roz stated dismissing her.

Regina squinted her eyes, like she was trying to figure out what angle was being played, at the green slug-like monster before her, but she didn't say anything. She was in Rumple's castle and with his guest. The last thing that she wanted to do was piss off the Dark One. She knew better. She simply nodded, grabbed the edge of her skirt, pulled it around her hip in a flourish and she stalked back towards the door and left the room.

Roz grabbed the files and her small bag. She knew that Rumple was only going to let her stay there as long as she needed to be there. Now, that she possibly had the White Queen on her side, she had no reason to be his guest. She also didn't want to be there anymore.

She slowly made her way to the edge of the woods. It was far enough from prying eyes and from Rumple's castle. She was just getting ready to throw another bean, when Regina walked up to her. She gave her a weak smile and tossed the bean.

"What is that?" Regina asked her.

"A portal to my world. Don't worry. You won't be gone long enough for anyone to worry about you."

"I am not worried about anyone being worried about me. I am worried how someone like you is welding magic. Where did you get that?" Regina asked her.

"Where do you think?"

"What do you have over him?" Regina questioned her.

"Knowledge," Roz answered.

"What kind of knowledge can something like you have over the Dark One?"

"The kind that is his personal business. Are you ready? This might be a little hard on your stomach. Just close your eyes," Roz told her as she threw the bean and   
started slithering towards the open, swirling green portal back to Monstropolis.

When she slithered out, they were on the outskirts of Monstropolis just like she wanted. Regina seemed a little out of it, but she looked around, like she was trying to take everything in. Roz knew that no one in fairy tale world would believe her if she told them. She just smiled and then waved her hand towards Roz. Roz watched for a few minutes before she started off in a direction. Regina followed her, unsure of what else she should do.

"There is a building that we will use not far from here."

"What is it?" Regina asked.

"An old scare training facility," Roz told her.

They came up on a grey block building. It wasn't very tall compared to Regina's castle, but it seemed large. She took in the markings and postings that told others that not to enter without permission from the CDA. It was overrun with vines and vegetation and Regina wasn't sure that the building itself was sound. Seeing as she was in a foreign land, she decided that she needed to stay close to Roz until she could get home. She wasn't sure what the test would be, but she didn't think that it could be that hard.

"Scare training facility?" Regina asked as they entered the building and made their way to a mock scare floor with door connections.

"Yes. This is where certain monsters were tested for their scare abilities. If they passed, they would be put into a work force that scares children for power."

"Scare children for power?"

"Our society runs on scare power. It is only produced by human children. Therefore, we slink into their rooms at night and scare them. Their fear is converted into energy which is then taken to a facility to help run our society. It is a big mission, but only the best of the best can do it. And, until a few years ago, scaring was the only way that we could produce our energy. Now we know that laughter gives us a bigger boost. So, our monsters train in both tactics, because depending on the child, we approach differently."

They neared a station with a five paneled shaker door locked into place. Roz stood in front of it with her files. The door wasn't ready. Roz hadn't activated the lock.

"And, you have a problem child?"

"She isn't a problem child. She is a mystery. She's too young to be experiencing the symptoms of that she is."

"Symptoms?"

"She is no longer responding to monster activity."

"At all?"

"In any fashion," Roz stated.

"Have you tried other monsters?"

"She's baffled my five best."

"So, you want me to test her?" Regina asked.

"In a manner of speaking, yes."

"Why?"

"Well, I would have asked Rumple, but I didn't want to scar the child. We just need to know why she is now immune to monster activity. Obviously, I don't want to send another monster in to see her. She won't talk to us and from three of the five reports, she actually frightened my monsters," Roz explained.

"You think I can get through to her?"

"I don't know. I am willing to try anything. We need children to power our lives so that we can survive. I need to be able to plan against this if I can. I need to find a way to circumvent this from happening again in the future, or find a way to work around it so that we don't suffer from the children losing their innocence so early."

"And, why am I here?" Regina asked here.

"This child is special. She is what the humans call a foster child. She was abandoned by her parents and now lives in a home for orphans and such. These children are raised by people and the government. Some homes are good and some are bad."

"And, this child's?"

"We've never have a child like her. She's been in many homes in the last few years. In the last few months, however, she's been in one. Her room doesn't have a closet, but the door is still assigned to her. It won't open to a closet into her room. It will open to a hole under her bed. From there the monsters would enter and try to elicit a reaction from her. All attempts have failed," Roz told her.

"So, she is a monster's enigma?"

"Yes, she is."

"Hmm...how am I supposed to approach this if you couldn't?" Regina questioned.

"That is for you to decide. I am just going to teach you how to enter the room and approach the child. Maybe, she'll respond to you better than a fantastical being. We just don't know. Either way, I want you to make contact and then report back to me."

"How many times?"

"As many times as you feel is needed, but honestly, I have to report back to the agency about this by the end of the week," Roz told her.

"Which means?"

"We have four or five nights to get something working," Roz replied.

"Can we start now?"

"No, we have to wait until her time zone is ready for us."

"What?"

"We have three hours before we can an attempt an entry," Roz said.

"Then, I guess you better start teaching, Slug."


	4. Old Habits

Emma stood by and watched the fire burning in Regina's eyes. She could tell that she was devastated about Henry, too. They were both his mother. They had come to an uneasy alliance in that jungle and for some reason, she dared to hope that it would continue once they all got back to Storybrooke.

As she, her mother, and Regina continued through the jungle, they'd decided to capture a lost boy. It seemed easy enough, but those young men...boys...were proving to be quite elusive. Regina was being sporting about it, but Emma could see it in her eyes. The Evil Queen was begging to be released, but Emma wasn't sure that she could survive what Regina was willing to do get Henry back. She knew that there were some lines that should never be crossed, skirted and flirted with on occasion, but definitely never fully crossed. She knew Regina had killed. She knew Regina was holding part of her magic back. And, she wondered just how long Regina was going to remain friendly and dormant, before she went all Evil Queen and laid waste to the island.

And, as she wondered this, he finally came into view. A young man with blue eyes and rusty hair hunting a boar or something, Emma wasn’t quiet up to date on her Neverland Island wildlife. She was delightfully and amazingly surprised that Mary Margaret's trap actually worked as she loosed her arrow to net the boy. Now, they had a link to Henry. Now, they would get answers. Now, she would take the fight to Peter Pan.

She shivered as she watched Regina and her mother tie the boy to the tree. Old thoughts stirred up in this forsaken jungle weren't staying in her dreams. They were starting to take root in her mind. She knew soon that the nightmares wouldn't be the only thing that she was afraid of, and she didn't want to give Pan that kind of power. He fed off it like it was some drug, but it was worse than that. It was like he craved the misadventure that caused the fear. He liked the pain and suffering it caused. He liked to hurt people and then convince that they liked it.

Just like...

"Emma?" Mary Margaret asked.

"Hmm?" she replied, coming out of her own thoughts to look at her mother.

Regina and Mary Margaret were staring at her expectantly.

"What'd I miss?" Emma asked.

"I was asking what are we going to do with him. He's refusing to tell us anything and he just keeps ranting about not wanting to start a war with Pan. We've tried bribing him. We've tried...well, Regina tried threatening him. Do you have a suggestion?"

Emma studied the boy. He didn't look lost. He looked pissed. And, that was when Emma realized the truth, the boy would give them nothing. He had no reason. He didn't want to go home. He'd forgotten what home was like. Or, just as the tales stated, he'd run away from it because he had reason to. And, that was when she knew...

She stepped around Regina and her mother and looked the boy in his eyes. She ignored the scratch on his face. She'd ignored his words on Henry. She knew how to reach him. She knew how to get him to talk.

"I was like you, once," she told him.

"Yeah, what's that?"

"I might not be a lost boy, but I am a lost girl," she replied.

Regina held Mary Margaret back. She realized what Emma was doing. She leaned into Snow's ear and whispered. Her mother quietened and held her whimpers and   
gasps at Emma's words, no matter how painful or sad. She clung to Regina, hand in hand, as they listened to Emma bare her soul.

"What do you mean that you are a lost girl?"

"I'm like you. I left home at a young age. Well, not home home, because I didn't have one. I was an orphan."

"So what?"

"My parents didn't want me. They left me on the side of the road. I was made a ward of the State in Maine. A foster family took me in, but the State took me back. I was sent from home to home, family to family, until I was five. Then, a really bad man and his wife took me in."

"Why was he so bad?"

"He did things...unspeakable things...and his wife didn't care or didn't notice because she was hardly there."

"But, you escaped him?"

"Not really, no. He still haunts my dreams sometimes. I've never honestly been rid of him, but I learned not to fear him so greatly."

"Why?" the boy asked.

"Because a monster told me that I didn't have to fear him."

Regina's head quirked at this statement. She looked at Emma again, like she was seeing her for the first time. She was diving through memories and questioning everything she knew about the blonde standing before her.

Emma stopped talking. She turned to face the two women behind her. Regina saw that same electric green to her eyes. The magic was swirling beneath her emotions. Regina gasped and Mary Margaret looked from her step-mother to her child and back again.

"Have you ever met a dragon?" Emma asked him and he shook his head. "I have. I was barely five years old." She laughed self-deprecatingly. "This dragon came to me one night while I lived with those vile people. Slithered out from underneath my bed and took control of the situation like they owned my room and everything that was in it. They laid claim to me...me, a little, lost, and lonely girl that only wanted someone to love them."

"Did the dragon stay?"

"No, she couldn't. Like all things in our childhood, we lose them or grow out of them. For the longest time, I thought that she, the dragon, was just a figment of my imagination. Why would such a spectacular creature come from their magical world to come help me? I'll never know. Was it destiny? Was it because I was the Saviour? Was it because I was supposed to break the Curse? I can't really say."

"But, you stayed," the boy said.

"No, I didn't. I was moved by the end of the week. I didn't hold my tongue with my counselor at school and the man didn't seem to be smart enough to speak against me. I was then given to nicest people. They raised the longest and I took their name. But, like all good things, it wasn't meant to last and once again I was adrift in the system. So, I know what it feels like to be lost and afraid. I know what it feels like to not have parents that care about you, or love you, or even try to do anything for you. I know what it is like to want something so bad and hope for it to happen, that somehow, some way, you've believed that it has. You start to build families with your friends. You shut everyone out because you feel safer that way. If you don't love them, they can't hurt you. It's a very lonely life."

"That's your problem," he spat at her.

"And, it's yours. You think that you don't have a family out there looking for you. You think that there isn't one person out there that doesn't care about you. Well, you're wrong. And, do you know how I know that? It's because I care. Help us get to Henry. That is all I'm asking you to do. Just take us to Pan's camp and to Henry. And, I promise you that I will take you back with us. We will find your parents or someone that is willing to care for you, love you and be what you need them to be. All you have to do is take me to Pan," Emma explained.

"And, betray the one person who's done more for me than one else ever dreamed of doing? No...no way. You want war with Pan. It's a war that you cannot win and every single lost boy...your son included...will die for him. You've lost him. That is what Neverland does. It's makes us the Lost Boys."  
Emma moved away from him. She walked back over to Mary Margaret and Regina were standing. Regina dropped Snow's hand and started towards the boy only to be stopped by both Emma and Snow.

"What are you going to do?" Mary Margaret asked her.

"I am going to rip his heart out. Then he'll do exactly what we want," Regina told them as she gave the Lost Boy a devilish smirk.

Mary Margaret was immediately in her face. They were arguing and Emma just stood there, still, like she was contemplating the cosmos. She looked around the jungle and then back at her mother, still a little weirded out that her mother was around her age, and Regina, the other mother of her child. Regina finally noticed that Emma hadn’t added to their argument.

"What do you think, Emma?" Regina asked her.

There was a plea in her eyes that Emma couldn't deny. A small swirl of magic in them pulled Emma in and didn't let go. She was fascinated by the faint purple swirl in Regina's dark eyes. But, what she couldn't see was the same swirl in her own eyes. Regina could however. Maybe that was why they were getting along so well. They understood each other on a deeper level. They knew pain and suffering. They knew what it meant to not be loved by the people that were supposed to be caring for them. They knew what it was like to feel completely alone and like absolutely nothing worthy while surrounded by others.

She turned from Regina and looked at her mother. Their eyes were the same green, but even Mary Margaret could see something in them...behind them that she couldn't name or understand. She smiled, thinking that Emma was about to agree with her. Then she saw something flash.

"I think we need to talk to our son," Emma told her flatly.

There was plenty emotion in the words, but it didn't stop Mary Margaret's protest. She immediately tried to stop them both, and in her haste, she forgot who she was trying to fight. So she tried to talk Emma out of it.

"She can't do that. We can't do that. It's brutal. Emma!" Mary Margaret tried.

"We can't. She can," Emma said as she wrapped her mother up from behind, trapping her, before turning to Regina. "Do it, Regina."

She didn't watch as Regina moved across the clearing. She just held her mother, tighter. She felt the defeat in her mother and it broke her heart. She knew that she wasn't the daughter that Snow wanted. She felt she like she was a complete disappointment, but she needed to save Henry. She knew that Snow couldn't cross the line, but Emma wasn't as reserved.

"Sorry. I'm sorry. Sorry," Emma just kept repeating in Mary Margaret's ear.

They both listened as Regina tore the heart from the boy. She could hear his grunts and his pain, but for the life of her, Emma didn't care. She let her go as soon as Regina touched her shoulder.

They turned around to face Regina and the boy. The tears were in Mary Margaret's eyes. Emma stepped away from her. She couldn't take the disappointment in her eyes. Regina, seeing the tension, moved away from the both. She started questioning the boy alone.

While she did that, Snow watched her daughter. She was pacing and mumbling under her breath. She knew that look. Charming had the same look.

As Regina approached them, she heard Snow say, "I just want to make sure that the line is still there."

"What line?" Emma asked her.

"The line between what Regina is willing to do and what you are," Mary Margaret replied.

"I am willing to do whatever it takes to get him home."

"The cost cannot be this family," Snow countered.

"It won't be," Emma said with determination.

"Second thoughts?" Regina asked them with the Lost Boy following her like a puppy.

"Let's get him that message," Emma said, effectively stopping the topic at hand.

"Oh, we're going to do more than that. We're going to see him," she stated as she tore her compact mirror apart. Giving the Lost Boy half and keeping the other half. 

"Go find Henry."

They watched as the boy walked back into the jungle.

"Are we going to follow him?"

"Not yet," Emma said.

"Why not?"

"I don't trust Pan. I want to make sure that Henry is safe. Once we do that, then we'll deal with Pan."

"Why wait?" Regina asked her.

"Because Pan is protecting himself with Henry. We need to figure out why and we need to get him away from Henry. Henry can help us with that. We just need to talk   
to him. We need to make sure that he knows that we are coming for him...that we haven't forgotten him...that we love him...that we love him and we are willing to do whatever it takes to get him home," Emma said as she stared deeply into Regina's eyes.

Regina just smiled. She didn't know why, but she found this Emma very...alluring...confident...and dare she say it sexy. She shook her head and followed Emma as they re-entered the jungle on their way back to the camp. She was hoping that Charming and Hook were back. She needed a break from the mother-daughter duo. Frankly, she needed off the island, but she wasn't leaving without Henry. So, she'd deal. She'd dealt with worse. She just couldn't exactly remember when.

She let her mind drift. She wished that she could control it, but she couldn't. It had to do with that look in Emma's eyes. But, instead of her trying to forget it and focus on Henry, her memory drifted back to a young girl with electric green eyes, a young girl that Regina swore to protect from her human monsters.


	5. Mirrors and Doors

Regina looked at the mirrors before her. She'd been watching videos on them and they amused her. These magic mirrors were strange but very entertaining. She began wondering if she could cause something like that to happen back in the Enchanted Forest, but she knew that she wasn't powerful enough. She watched the monsters on the mirrors and laughed. She was amazed at the lengths that they went for their laughs. She figured that wasn't why she was here. She wasn't considered funny. She was horrible. She was the Evil Queen. She was a monster in her world, so she guessed they were hoping that she could solve the mystery of the peculiar child.

"Humor doesn't work on her, but I knew that you needed to see both sides of what we do."

"You frighten children," Regina deadpanned.

"Children frighten themselves. We just manifest it and harvest their fear. They out grow that fear and aren't scarred by it. We don't torment them. We frighten them. Fear can be healthy."

"You do this to them...every night and you don't think that they aren't scarred?" Regina questioned.

"Trust me, they grow out of it. There maybe some residual fear, but that just helps them navigate their lives. Even you have agree that the niggling little voice in the back of your head has gotten you out of more trouble than you'd like to admit. We just help cultivate that voice. We make them warier of their surroundings. Now, do some children succumb to their fear. Yes, but we try to help them. But there are some mental things that we can't control and if we find that a child falls into one of those categories, we abort them from the project regardless of age."  
Regina looked at her. Like actually stared down this monster and wonder who was attached to her as a child.

"Who was mine?"

"I am sorry?"

"Who was my monster?"

"You live in a different realm. We don't..."

"Don't give me the party line, Slug. Who was my monster? Who crept under my bed while I slept?"

"I don't know," Roz told her truthfully.

"You don't know or you don't want to tell me?"

"I honestly don't know. I don't handle cases from the Fairy Tale World."

"Fairy Tale World..."

"The Enchanted Forest," Roz amended.

"Then who does?"

"I am not sure, but I could find out. They would have to pull your file. It would take some time, time we don't have to protect this child."

"Protect her from what?"

"I don't know," Roz stated. "If she isn't afraid of monsters and she doesn't laugh at us either, she might believe in magic. If she's lost the ability to believe...there are entire realms that could perish if it spreads to other children. The dreams of children populate worlds and realms, sometimes, beyond our comprehension. If they lose ability to believe..."

"We could all die?"

"Yes."

"And, that is why the Dark One is willing to help."

"What?" Roz asked.

"Self-preservation. He doesn't care about the fact that he owes you for something. He wants to live. He's seen something and he wants to make sure that it doesn't happen. He's trying to alter the future. This girl might the key to his downfall."

"Or, maybe she starts a revolution and we all die," Roz added.

"There's only one way to find out," Regina told her.

"You have to go see her."

"I do."

"Well, now that you've watched what other monsters have done in the past, let's get to work on what you'll need to do when you pass through her door."

"Tell me more about her first."

"The child?"

"Yes. I need to be able to understand why I was chosen. Rumple selected me out of everyone in the Enchanted Forest and I don't know why. Does he want me to frighten the child or save it? This is why he is a odd man and even harder to understand."

"He told me that you would be the best thing from his realm, that you were the closest thing to a monster that he'd found, but it was his fault. He made you what you are. He told me that he trained you."

"He trained me, but he isn't the one that made me angry," Regina murmured.

Roz just nodded along at her words. She didn't say anything. She wasn't worried about Regina. She was worried about the child.

"The child's name is June Black. This is the longest that she has been placed with a set of foster parents. They seem to be getting along well as the reports we have reviewed from the social workers have told us. There is nothing about her that should suggest she would be a problem, but she's become one for us."

"June Black?"

"Yes," Roz answered.

"I see. Is there anything else about her that you can tell me? Anything that can prepare me before I go to her?" Regina asked her.

"I need to teach you how to enter a room without giving yourself away," Roz told her.

"That's it?"

"Entry is a big part of our program. Not every monster is a scarer. We have jobs just everyone else in every other realm. The scarers are important. They are miners for   
us."

"They mine fright?" Regina questioned with a smirk. "I might need to borrow a few of them later. I might have someone for them to scare. I am sure that she could give some 'power' you're looking for."

Roz looked at her sideways. Regina had a strange smirk on her face. Roz just turned away and motioned for her to follow. Regina tried to hide her smirk as she followed her to another room in the training warehouse. If she thought it was odd, she didn't say anything. She just took in her surroundings. She wasn't sure that she   
would want to live in a place like this, but she tried to see if there was something she might want to take back to the Enchanted Forest.

"I have a series of questions for you before we go any further," Roz told her as they entered a Scare Training room for under the bed entry.

"Don't you think that you should have been asking questions before now?" Regina asked her.

"If I needed to ask you questions like that, you wouldn't have come. Rumple sealed your fate as soon as he sent you to me and recommended you for the job and you know that. No, these questions have to do with how you want to proceed with the assignment."

"Assignment?"

"Each child is an assignment. You are a guest and she is being assigned to you, therefore, she's your assignment. Have you thought about how you want to approach her once you are in the room?"

"I'll be coming from under the bed, correct?"

"Yes," Roz replied simply.

"I guess the most direct approach, then."

"Generally, when coming out from under the bed, a monster tries to come out near the foot of the bed. Depending on the bed she's in will depend on your approach from there and your personal scare style. Most monsters go for the legs and feet. The child usually pulls up on itself in fear and the harvesting begins. Words or sounds keep the child in fear. Once an optimal level is reached, the monster slinks back from whence they came."

"I slink no where," Regina said with a bit of haughtiness.

"No, I imagine you don't, majesty. But, this is a delicate procedure. You must enter and exit without the child ever knowing where the portal opened. Sure, they know it's either under the bed or in their closet, but they can find the absolute location. "

"How did the others try to scare her?"

"The each had their own style," Roz answered.

"Such as?"

"Big, furry, unidentifiable monster...lots of teeth and crazy eyes...slither and stare, my favorite...giant insect...storybook or legendary character...and finally variations   
and combinations of all of them. Magic isn't something we deal in, so we can't do anything with that. But, like I've said, none of our normal methods have worked. Do you have any ideas?"

"I won't know until I see her."

"Well, that isn't something that I can help you with until you go through the portal into her room."

"Seriously?"

"We don't interact with our assignments, Regina. I am taking a big leap of faith by using you. None of what I am doing is normal."

"Then, what else would you do to her?"

"Me?"

"Yes," Regina answered.

"Nothing, I would destroy her door, close the case and let her go," Roz stated.

"But, you don't want to let her go?"

"There is just something about her... There is something special about her and I can't figure out what it is. She doesn't respond like a normal child from her realm should. I am not sure whether I'm frightened on what it could mean for future generations or if I am just too stubborn to admit defeat."

"You've never lost a child, have you?"

"Not this young," Roz reminded her.

"So, how will I come out under the bed?"

Roz straightened herself. She could the tendreles of purple smoke floating in Regina's eyes. Her jaw was set. She was just as stubborn. She could tell that Regina wasn't willing to lose this girl either.

"I'll attach the door to the device. Once it's attached, you'll open the door and step through. It might be a little disorienting because you won't be stepping into a closet. You be stepping into a void that is created under her bed. It will give you enough room to maneuver and find your way out to do the scare. Once the scare is complete, you will find your way back under the bed and into the void. Once you step back into the void and retreat through the door back here, the portal will close until the next night. The portal will only remain open while you are in the room. Once the portal closes, it cannot be opened again until the next night," Roz told her.

"So, we only get a night to get this right?"

"Something like that."

"And, if I need more time?"

"You will have her bedtime hours and nothing more. Once you leave, unless for some reason, you need to go back, the portal will close and I'll have my data. If you can't do anything for us, I will destroy her door and send her file to the archives. She'll just be another lost child to us. And, I'll go back to assigning monsters to new children," Roz explained.

"So, no pressure," Regina quipped.

"None, what so ever."

Regina turned to look at her. She arched an eyebrow. She walked over to the simulator. She opened the door and saw the void. Looking across the room, she saw a void open in the simulator's bedroom under the bed. She stuck her hand in and saw it come out on the other side.

"Just like mirrors..." she murmured as she stepped forward.

When she found herself under the bed, she looked up. She had inches. Not really enough room to move around it, but indeed the void opened to allow her to crawl out from under the bed and get near it. She peeked up over the bed at the child. She didn't try to scare it. She didn't want to, but she knew that she would have to get Roz some sort of answer. She reached forward with her magic and wiggled her fingers. She got her feet and walked around the simulated room.

"I know what I need to do."

"You do?" Roz questioned.

"Yes," Regina replied as she worked her way back under the bed and into the void.

When she stepped out of the door in the other room, she turned around to face Roz. She had a gleam in her eye. She nodded.

"Get her door. I have an idea. And, don't worry, you'll get your answers."

"Are you sure? You've only done the simulator once. You didn't even scare the child," Roz stated.

"I've scared plenty of children. Just get her door. It's time for answers, Roz and I know how to get them for you," Regina said very determinedly.

Roz just nodded and started tapping at a panel near the simulator. The door in the simulator was ejected and moved out of the way. Another door came and took its place. Roz tapped the panel beside the door a few more times. She looked at her watch and then back at Regina.

"What?" Regina asked when she saw the slug eyeing her.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," Regina replied.

"Then, it's time. She's only been bed an hour. You'll have a few hours, but I doubt it'll take you that long. Get in, get your information, scare her if you can, and get   
out. Got it?"

"Got it. Now, move slug. I have a child to frighten," Regina told her as she opened the door and stepped through.


	6. Unexpected Company

They'd made it home. Henry was safe, and Pan was gone. The Lost Boys were mixed in with families around town. Regina was trying to get back to being the mayor and running the town. Rumple was surprised to be alive, but Neal was with him. Neal offered to take Felix, knowing him better than the rest of the boys that came back. Neverland was now a memory and one that Regina couldn't be happier to be rid of.

She was in her home office. A glass of her famous, and very alcoholic, apple cider in her hand, she sipped it as she sat in parlor. She tried not to think about everything that happened in Neverland and how close she'd come to losing Henry. She was grateful for Emma's help, but there seemed to be something else that was driving Emma.

It wasn't really something that Regina knew, but she felt instead. Emma wasn't just doing it to save Henry. She knew that he was main reason, but there seemed to be more there. And, every time that Regina met her piercing green eyes, something fluttered in the back of her mind. It was the niggling that she couldn't stop. But, it was something that she understood.

Emma was still coming into her own. She was trying to figure out what it meant for her to actually be the daughter of what she thought were fairy tale stories. Regina couldn't blame her. Who in their right mind would want to be child of Prince Charming and Snow White? Plus, she was the Saviour. She broke the curse. She freed Storybrooke and things were starting to get a little more fantastic in town. Without the complete magical barrier, magic and other fantastical things started happening.  
This didn't distress her. No, Emma took to it like a fish to water. She really impressed Regina, though Regina would never tell her as much. Her own stubbornness and hatred of Snow wouldn't allow it.

No, she would admire Emma and she would let her know in her own way. She wasn't fighting as much for Henry. She would allow Emma more time with him. Neal on the other hand was a completely different story. She didn't want him to be around Henry unless Emma was with him. She knew that it was petty, but he was the son of Rumple and the catalyst for everything that happened in Regina and Emma's lives.

There was knock at the door. She looked up at the clock over her mantle in surprise. It wasn't that late, but it was certainly too late for a social call. She sat her tumbler of cider on the table and stood up from her chair to walk towards the front door. Before she got to it, there was another knock.

She opened the door without checking the peephole, fireball at the ready, because of whoever's impatience. She doused the fireball and stepped out of the way as soon as she saw Emma. She gestured for her to come in. After Emma passed her, she closed the door and locked her. She motioned for her to head into the other room where they could sit, talk, and be comfortable. Regina stopped at the bar cart and prepared her a glass of cider. She handed it to her as she made her way back to the sofa and sitting down. Before getting completely comfortable, she reached out for her own tumbler and took a healthy drink.

"What can I do for you, Miss Swan?" she asked.

"I couldn't sleep," Emma replied.

"So, you decided that the best course of action was to darken my door?"

"I wanted to make sure that Henry was okay," Emma countered.

"You could have just called," Regina replied.

"I need to see for myself."

"But, you haven't asked to see him."

"I know."

"What's wrong, Miss Swan? And, don't tell me Henry. It's something more than that. What happened to you on Neverland that you can't shake?"

"It wasn't Neverland."

Regina sat up a little straighter. She looked at the blond woman before her and cocked her head. The green of her eyes changed and she wondered. She shook the thought from her head and waited for Emma to continued.

"The nightmares haven't stopped."

"Do you need me to help you with them, Dear?"

"No."

"But, yet, you've still come to me...tonight...because the nightmares won't let you sleep," Regina stated.

"Can I go up and check on Henry?" Emma asked as she leaned forward with her tumbler, setting it on a coaster and looking up into Regina's eyes.

She wanted to say no. She didn't want Emma accidently waking him, but she didn't. She didn't actually say yes, either. She merely dipped her head in a slight nod and Emma was off the couch and up the stairs towards Henry's room before Regina could even set her own glass down. Regina followed her.

They stopped in front of Henry's door. Regina magically opened it, so it wouldn't squeak. They stood there in the doorway just watching their son sleep.

"He looks so peaceful."

"He does."

"Has he had nightmares?"

"Yes."

"Bad ones?" Emma asked.

"Not too bad. Normal ones I assume after such a tragic event. He seems to be coping well, though."

"I mean, it isn't every day that you find out who your father and grandfather are. Or, that your own great-grandfather tried to kill you, so he could live longer. The kid's had it rough."

"Yes, I imagine he has."

"I gave him up. He found me. He had to convince me of who he was, who you were...what the town was. Then, he ate that turnover to prove his point."

"I remember."

"What was in that pastry, Regina? Did I really do something that horrible to you? I wasn't going to take him from you. I just wanted to know my son."

"I know and that scared me."

"Scared you? Scared you? When have you ever been afraid Regina? Who in their right mind would ever believe that you could be scared?"

"Have you met Gold?"

"Besides the imp or Dark One, or whatever the hell he is," Emma added.

"Shh...you'll wake him. Come to my room and we can talk. I don't wish to have this discussion here."

Emma just nodded. She didn't know what else to do. She followed Regina into her bedroom. The door was shut, and they took up residence on opposite sides of the room.

"When I was younger, I was afraid of many things, Miss Swan. My mother was one of the biggest things. I knew that her power was bad, and I knew what she could do with it. I am afraid that I am going to be like her. I wanted to keep Henry away from you so badly that I actually allowed myself to do things that I am not proud of...things that I wouldn't have done if they hadn't been done to me...but, in the heat of the moment, I realized what I was doing, and I stopped myself. I found the control that my mother lacked or decided not to use."

"You hurt him?" Emma questioned getting very touchy.

"No, never physically, but mentally, I am sure that I did. He did steal Snow's credit card and came to get you, remember? I am not proud of that, Miss Swan. I can admit when I am wrong. I was the Evil Queen. I am sure I struck fear into the hearts of many, but honestly, I am not sure that is what I wanted. It was an end to a means. The people feared me, not only because of my magic, but because I wasn't easily swayed. I acted on impulse. I killed on a whim and didn't think twice about it. I had a collection of hearts that almost rivaled my mother's. The more I fought against what I didn't want to be, the more I became that person. I let my misery and heartache blind me to the truth that was all around me. And, I am ashamed to say that it took Henry looking me in the eyes, afraid of what I was letting myself become again, that made me question everything," Regina told her.

"And, now?"

"Tink is trying to help me. She thinks that taming the Evil Queen will get her back in the good graces of Blue. Blue hates me, with good reason, but I severely doubt that the Bug will give Tink her wings back. To be honest with you, I'm indulging her. I owe her for my cruelty. All Tink has ever wanted to do was help me and steer me towards my happy ending. Instead, I ran from it."

"Why?"

"Because I was young and afraid. I was still married to your grandfather. It was a loveless marriage and I was forced into it. Your mother was more fit to be my little sister rather than a step-child. I had to grow up overnight because of her. I was expected to run the household and raise her, all while being the dutiful wife to a man who could care less if I shared his bed willingly or not."

"He..."

Regina gave her a look but didn't answer. It was an unspoken rule of hers that she didn't really discuss her marriage to Leopold. Emma could only wonder why. She figured that it had something to do with the way he treated her, or it wasn't because she didn't want Snow to know that her father wasn't the great man that he was believed to be. Emma just nodded. There was nothing else to say.

"I get that."

"Do you?"

"I had a rough life, too, Regina. It wasn't all unicorns and rainbows like it was for Snow. I fought to stay alive. I fought to eat. I fought just to fight some nights. I know what it's like to be afraid to be alone. I know what it's like to wonder if tonight is the night. I know what it's like to lie in a bed and dream of death because then the pain and suffering will stop. Trust me. I know what it is like to be afraid, truly afraid," Emma told her.

"Are your memories your nightmares?"

"Some nights. Others are too horrific that my mind fucks with me about...Sorry. After going to the Enchanted Forest and having the displeasure of meeting your mother, Captain Hook, and other creatures, my brain couldn't fathom things. Going to Neverland and finding out that it wasn't the perfect place for boys and girls, that it was basically the 'LORD OF THE FLIES' with a pan flute, scarred me. Now the nightmares are truly gruesome. The worst seems to be getting to Pan too late and not being able to get Henry's heart back."

Regina looked at her and gave her a weak smile.

"My personal favorite, however, is a duel between myself and Pan and I kill him. Not realizing that the heart that I stabbed him through was Henry's until I see you come running in too late to stop me. The anger and fury in your eyes... I welcome my death in that one."

"I have a similar dream," Regina admitted.

"I just needed to make sure that he was okay."

"You could have ‘poofed’ over as you say," Regina said.

"I might do that from time to time."

"I understand, Miss Swan."

"It doesn't bother you?"

"As long as you don't wake Henry, no."

"What if I wake you?"

"Then, we will share a glass of cider and talk, like tonight, dear."

Emma nodded. She took a shaky breath and stood up. She moved towards the door.

"It is entirely too late for you to be going anywhere, Miss Swan. You will stay in the guest room tonight. That is unless you feel rested enough to teleport yourself back to your parents’ apartment in town," Regina told her.

"No, here is good."

"I'll show you to your room, then," Regina said as she stood.

She escorted her to room directly next to hers. It was nestled between Regina's room and Henry's. The walls were a pale shade of green and in the faint lamp light, reminded Regina of the light green of Emma's eyes. A color that she had been fascinated with for years and had been surprised enough to see it in the hardware store that she decided to paint the walls of her rarely used guest room.

"Goodnight, Miss Swan," Regina told her as she turned to go back downstairs and clean up their tumblers before bed.

Emma's words, stopped her at the door. It was more of the tone of Regina's name leaving her lips that caught the slightly older woman off guard. When she turned to look into the woman's eyes, she didn't see a grown woman before her. She saw a small child, no more than five or six, looking back up at her and her heart hammered in her chest.

"Thank you."

"Goodnight, Miss Swan. Sleep well. I'll expect you down for breakfast before work."

Emma just nodded as she moved towards the bed. Regina waved her hand and set a red, silk pajamas formed on the bed. Emma looked up at her a smiled just before she closed the door.

While she was cleaning up downstairs, she couldn't shake the thought of a small, young, blond girl from her past. She shook her head to rid herself of the thoughts, promising to go to the fault to pull out the files that she'd taken from Roz. She quickly finished and made her way back up to bed. She stopped at Henry's door and opened again, checking on the boy and placing a barrier around his room to protect him. Then, she stopped at guest room. She waved her hand and cast another spell. This one was to help her sheriff sleep. She told herself it was because she wanted to keep the town safe, but her heart knew that there were deeper reasons she didn't want to face yet.

As she changed into her grey silk pajamas, she wondered more about that girl. The sight and the sounds that she made the night she attempted to scare her only to find out who her true monsters were. She wondered what happened to her, but she never sought her out once she was in Storybrooke. It didn't seem relevant at the time. It still wasn't. The girl wasn't a priority. Henry was. But, she has sworn to protect the girl... It would have to wait until morning. She needed rest, especially if she was going to dig into the demons of her own past in order to help that defenseless girl again.


	7. Ahhh!!! Real Monsters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning...nothing graphic but scene might be uncomfortable for some

Regina crept through the door and into the void under her bed. The room was bathed in darkness. She expected no less, but she waited a few minutes just to acclimate herself to the room and the darkness inside it. She moved slightly as she tried to perceive where she was in location in the room. She felt the foot board to the bed.

It was wooden and most likely oak. She couldn't tell the color precisely, but she assumed that it was a rich and warm brown by the gray she could make out. Her hand wrapped around it and she pulled herself out. She slowly rose to her feet and looked around the room more fully.

It was obviously a child's room, but it didn't seem to have anything personal in it. There was nothing that declared that this was actually June's room. Instead, it looked like any child could be living there. The walls were suspiciously bear except a single portrait of a dragon. She moved across the room silently to study it better.

The dragon was large in the picture. It was purple and black in nature and slightly reminded her of Mal. This dragon was obviously male though and not a true magical being like Maleficent was. The wings were a thick and leathery nature, but they faded down to a thinner design as they filled out the expanse they covered. The slope was possibly for better flight control, but Regina didn't honestly know. She'd never honestly ridden a dragon...or flown, but it seemed logical. The claws weren't overly large. They seemed to actually fit the size of the dragon and weren't exaggerated. The golden eyes surveyed the room like it was his domain and the snarl on his face suggested that it wasn't happy with the goings on in the room. This struck Regina as odd. How could a picture convey so much without being magical?

She reached out to touch it. There was no power in it. She ran her fingers over the glossy paper. And, then it struck her. This child still believed in magic. The dragon was supposed to be protecting her, but from what?

She heard the young blond stirring in the bed. Turning back to face her, she saw the anguish on her face. Before she could touch the girl's temple and see her thoughts, her dreams, her nightmares, the girl woke up. Regina made herself invisible to her and watched as the girl searched the room for her. It was like the girl knew she was there even though she couldn't see her.

"I know you're here," June said breaking the silence.

Regina's mouth opened in surprise, but no words came out. She just watched as the girl sat up and shrank into herself. The girl was frightened, but it wasn't about what was in her room. Regina knew fear. She caused it. She craved it. But, even this fear was something crueler than she was willing to cause...she'd felt it. She recognized it on some basic and baser level and it enraged her that someone so young should know that kind of paralyzing fear.

"I've come to talk to you," Regina stated.

"I've told you before that you don't scare me."

"I know."

Silence engulfed them again. She moved closer to the bed and looked in the girl's eyes. That same feeling that she saw from her picture in the file that Roz had given her back at the training facility hit her again. There was something about her eyes...in them...those electric green orbs, that just pulled Regina in and held her. It was like she could understand everything that the girl was feeling and she immediately wanted to protect her.

She moved until she was right next to the girl. She reached out to touch her. Using magic, she glammored herself into being that dragon from the poster. A purple and black scaly hand touched a bared leg that had fallen out of the covers. A shock flowed through them both and to Regina it seemed like an awaking of power, old, magnificent and very, very powerful.

"Why now?" June asked her.

"Why now, what, Dear?"

"Why have you chosen tonight?"

Regina cocked her head in question. She knew that the girl couldn't see her, but she couldn't stop herself. She moved closer.

There was suddenly the sound of footsteps coming from down the hall. The girl shrank more, if that was possible. Her eyes darted around the room like she was looking for an escape. She was no longer worried about Regina or her even being there. She could see the fear rising in the girl's eyes and she knew why, but she hoped that she was wrong. The steps got closer.

The girl scrambled off the bed and onto the floor. There was no escape out of the room except the door into the hall. But, whatever was in the hall was more devastating that the horror that could be in her room. Regina watched as she made the bed quickly and then threw herself on the floor. She shimmied under the bed, hiding from the horror in the hallway and Regina was curious. She crouched down and shimmied back under the bed with her.

Instead of moving away from her, June saddled up closer. She actually reached for Regina, taking her scaly hand in comfort. Regina's heart broke.

No wonder no monster could scare her. This child knew real and paralyzing fear. She didn't need anything fantastic to scare her. She wanted it to protect her from the real monsters in her life. The ones that she couldn't escape. The ones that were just outside a door.

"Don't worry, Little One. I won't let anything hurt you tonight," she told her, but didn't know why. "No more fear, Dear. I promise."

Regina didn't know why she was telling the child these things. She was supposed to be frightening her, but she couldn't. Not after seeing her like this. No, she was going to do what she agreed to do for Roz. She was going to figure out why this child was so different. She could help her at the same time.

"He's coming."

"Does he come every night?"

"No."

"No?" Regina questioned.

"Just when he's been drinking."

"And, is that often?"

"Often enough," June replied.

Regina's blood boiled. She would fillet the man as soon as she saw him. She could feel the girl shaking next to her and she did what she could to comfort her, but she knew that it would honestly never be enough. Especially, if this was the only night that Regina would ever spend with her. She needed to do something.  
Then, the door opened. The creak of the hinges was ominous and loud even though she knew that it wasn't honestly that loud. Their emotions and heightened senses made it seem so loud. Regina turned from where she was lying and looked at the door as it swung open.

The first thing she noticed was the khaki pants and hard, rubber soled boots. The clomp of his footsteps gave away his position in the room and Regina followed it. She kept her eyes on his feet as she kept one hand solidly wrapped around June's hand. She heard the girl take a sharp breath.

Regina watched as he moved about the room. She heard him pull back the covers and fling them aside. She could sense his agitation that June wasn't in the bed...waiting for him. He moved around the room, opening things. After a few minutes, he sat down heavily on the bed.

"June Bug, my love, where are you?"

Regina wanted to throw up. She reached over and covered the girl's mouth. She didn't want her to make a sound. She wanted to see what this pervert was going to do.   
She had an idea and she had a plan if he so dared to try.

"June Bug, come on out. Save yourself the trouble. You know that I am going to find you," he stated. "Come on out for daddy."

Regina turned to face the girl under the bed. She could see the horror and dread in her eyes. She moved closer to the girl but knew that she couldn't really see her well. When she was next to her, she leaned in to her.

"Is he your father?"

June shook her head.

"He is who they gave you to?"

June nodded this time.

"Is he the first?"

June shook her head, again.

"Stay here, no matter what you here. Do not come out from under this bed. Do you understand?" Regina asked her.

June nodded.

Regina still held her hand. She waited, wanting to see how depraved the man actually was, as she formed her plan of attack. She felt the bed move again. She let go of June's hand and pushed her towards the head of the bed and away from the monster sitting upon it. She felt her magic starting to crawl just beneath her skin, itching to get out and hurt the waste of flesh above her.

"Junnie...come here...come make daddy happy."

Regina felt herself start to swell slightly. She allowed the picture of the dragon above the door fill her. When she looked down at her hands, they were covered in scales. A sick and very mordant smile crept across her face as the bed moved above her. She dared him to stick his hand down.

The man actually did. Sure, he didn't know that Regina was down there, but he sealed his fate. He reached under the bed, blindly, searching for June. Instead of finding her, he found Regina and that would be his undoing.

She allowed him to close his hand around her wrist. As he pulled her from the bed, she became the monster in the poster on the wall more fully. She waited until she was fully out from under the bed to assume a complete dragon-like appearance.

"What...what...what are you?" he sputtered as she rose up before him.

Casting a small spell to illuminate herself, the bed and him, she looked into his soulless eyes.

"My name and what I am is no consequence to you, you filth."

He looked perplexed and frightened. He started to stand, possibly flee, and she couldn't allow it. She needed to make him understand that June was now off limits, forever. She looked down at where his hand was still wrapped around her wrist. She kept her eyes locked with his as she lowered her dragon head and smiled,   
exposing rows of very sharp teeth and her serpentine tongue.

"You see, June is under my protection now. You will not touch her again. Do you understand?"

His eyes went wide. He looked like he was about to piss himself and Regina couldn't help herself. She reached down and grabbed his rapidly softening bulge.

"This comes nowhere near her again or I'll cut it off and feed it to you."

He shook his head in agreement. She didn't let up. She moved closer, still making herself look bigger with each movement. She watched as the fear flowed through him. Normally, she'd be getting off it, but he disgusted her so totally that all she wanted to do was rip his heart out and crush it. She wouldn't though. She didn't want to scar the child below the bed any more than she already was. Killing him would no doubt scar her.

She picked him up, with the help of her magic and escorted him to the bedroom door. She flung it open and tossed him out of it. Shutting it, she turned back to the bed. Slowly, she wound herself down. Growing back into her normal size and state, she kept the scales.

"June?" she called under the bed, where she kneeled beside it.

She saw the tiny girl move and those electric green eyes peek out from under it. Those same eyes darted around the room and then landed back on Regina. Regina reached out for her and the girl took her hand. She pulled her out from under the bed and helped her stand. She brushed her off before putting her back in bed.

"What is your name?"

"My name is Scylla," Regina told her, quickly pulling a name from her memory.

"Will he come back?"

"Not if he knows what is good for him."

"Will you come back?" June asked her.

"Only if I am needed."

"And, if I need you?" June questioned.

Regina reached down and pulled a scale from her arm. It was the size of a guitar pick. She handed it to the girl.

"Just hold this and call my name. I will come to you. But, you have to promise to be in real trouble. It takes a lot of magic for me to come to this realm."

"I understand."

"Good, little one. Now, to bed with you. I'll stay the rest of the night, but I'll be gone by morning light."

"Thank you, Scylla."

"Shh...sleep, little one. He'll not hurt you anymore. I promise."


	8. Upon Further Review

Emma woke up to the smell of bacon and coffee. It felt like heaven. She was actually rested.

"Who knew that sleeping at Regina's would keep the nightmares at bay?" she wondered aloud.

She across the room and saw a blouse laying across a chair. It was obviously Regina's. It was an offering, but she wasn't sure why. The last time that she "borrowed" Regina's clothes, she was sure that Regina was going have her arrested for stealing.

She shook her head and grabbed the blouse anyway. Getting dressed and back into her boots, she started to head down to the kitchen for breakfast. As she stomped down the stairs, she pulled a hair tie out of her pocket. She was still pulling her hair up into a ponytail as she entered the kitchen.  
Henry gave her a huge smile. He then looked at Regina before turning back to Emma. Deciding that it wasn't worth asking at the moment, he went back to his breakfast.

Emma sat down at the bar next to Henry. Regina just gave her another smile. She reached down and grabbed a plate from near the stove. She placed the plate in front of Emma. She then placed the syrup next to the plate. When she turned to get a cup of coffee for her, she heard the cap to the syrup open. She handed Emma the cup of coffee.

"Milk or sugar, Miss Swan?"

"Black is fine," Emma replied as she reached for the cup. Taking a tentative sip, she appreciated the taste of it. "That's some good coffee."

"I would hope so, considering where I have the beans imported from," Regina told her as she finished at the stove.

Emma just cocked and eyebrow and looked a Henry. He shrugged and went back to his breakfast. Emma dug into her pancakes and bacon, glad to have a home cooked breakfast for once. Her eyes met Regina's as soon as she finished cleaning up the workspace.

Their eyes held. A silent conversation happened between them. When Regina tipped her head towards Henry, Emma understood. She turned and looked at their son. He'd finished his plate.

"Hey, kid, you ready for school?"

"Not quite," he answered.

"Rinse your plate off and put in the dishwasher. Finish getting ready and I'll drive you to school. Cool?"

"Cool," he replied as he hopped down and did as asked.

When he was gone, Emma turned and looked back at Regina.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, Miss Swan, how did you sleep?"

"Like a rock."

"That's good, I suppose. No dreams or memories to plague you?"

"None," Emma answered and then looked up at her again, more fully this time. "It was you. You cast something, didn't you?"

"I did."

"Well...thanks," Emma stated.

Regina just gave her another quick smile. Henry came running in, book bag on his back, ready to go. He ran around the counter and gave Regina a deep hug. When he let her go, she bent down slightly and kissed the top of his head. He walked back around the counter to Emma and took her hand.

"I'll pick you up after school, Henry."

"Okay, Mom," he answered as they left.

Regina watched them walk away and couldn't help but smile. There was a pull in her heart that she hadn't felt in a long time, but she dismissed it. She was just happy that Henry was safe at home where he belonged. She was also glad that Emma had actually slept.

She didn't want to admit it, but she knew that the sheriff was having problems. She could see it on her face when she came to the mayor's office to report something.   
She hadn't pushed because she wanted Emma to feel free enough to come to her. They were passed their pettiness towards each other.

For some reason, Regina wanted to look over the file on June again. She knew that it had been years and the girl was now in her early thirties at least. She wasn't too sure of when she'd gone through the door in relation to when she cast the curse. The curse was years later, but Roz had told her at one point that time moved differently in Monstropolis. She just hoped that it meant that June was now a woman and she was still safe. The more she thought about it, the more she thought about asking Emma to look into the girl. She couldn't justify it though. It would be a waste of town funds because June had no place in Storybrooke. She was just an orphan that Regina had protected, even though she was the Evil Queen at the time.

"Maybe, she actually started me on my path to redemption and I didn't even know it."

She finished cleaning up the kitchen. After hanging up her apron, she waved her hands in front of her body and she teleported to her vault. She knew that if she had any answers they would be there. She'd kept the files on June and the one she made about the man who was her foster father at the time. She sighed as she pulled out the folder and set on her desk, in her twin office hidden in the vault.

She got comfortable at the desk and began to flip through the file. She stared at the young picture of the girl. She was so vibrant and innocent in the picture, but Regina had seen the other side of that. She'd met the girl was that didn't trust adults. The girl that shied away from a man that did horrible things to her in the night. But, a girl that still believed that a hero would help her. A girl that thought a dragon was her savior. A girl that was alone and afraid with no one to help her, care for her, or even love, but the monstrous Evil Queen.

She'd always wondered what happened to June, but she never dared to look. She was afraid that if she did, she'd see something horrible. She'd gone back to the Enchanted Forest. Her test or mission with Roz was over and she didn't need to dwell on a girl in another realm. She had Snow and Charming to deal with. And, Rumple had his horrible curse to be cast. She realized that she'd been Rumple's pawn about thirty years too late, but now, thinking about helping Roz with June, she wondered if it was even longer.

She flipped the file over. It was in the past. She should just let it go. She did what she could for the girl...a girl that wasn't her responsibility. She stood up for someone weaker than herself and she fought back. She felt righteous in what she did, and she knew that she'd do it over again if she had to. But, there was still something about that girl that nagged at the back of her brain.

She pulled out the form that had her location on it. Of course, this information was gathered by monsters and not humans of the realm, but it was still more than   
nothing. She looked it over. It seemed very similar to the one that she got for Henry from the adoption agency.

Name: JUNE E. BLACK (given by latest foster family, no prior information on record)  
Age: 5 years old  
Birthday: Late October, 1983  
Notes: Exact date of birthday unknown. Child was left at orphanage alone. Child has had several residences in the past few years, but this seems to be the nature of being an orphan. There are no known fears, but she's responded to several scarers. Will continued to track.

December 14, 1987: Girl is transferred to the Black family. Things seem well, but Jackson said that she no longer responds to him. Will try to find another monster to take his place.

February 22, 1988: Girl tried to touch monster tonight. Scared him more than he could scare her. Monster begged for reassignment. Reassignment given.

May 25, 1988: Monster assigned to girl is no longer getting results. Child seems to be sullen and withdrawn, no longer reacts. Notes from former monsters state that she is no longer responding to fear. Looking into humor and hope that we keep her in rotation for many more years.

November 11, 1988: Humor and laughter have ended. Girl no longer responds to any stimuli. At a loss as to what to do but must try one more time. There has to be something that can be done. Child is barely five and we would be losing three years of energy if we lost her now. Digging deeper. Looking into getting a veteran to try to reach her. I don't know if it will do any good but have to try.

March 13, 1989: Child responded slight for a while to a veteran. Permission from President Sullivan allowed for me to procure Randall back to see if he can reach the girl. He starts tomorrow. I'm hoping that from his shapeshifting we will get some sort of answers on how to proceed further with her.

March 15, 1989: Randall started tonight. Nothing out of the ordinary to report. Child talks and tries to touch him, but he just stands there and watches. He's trying to assess what to do to elicit something from her. She stares at him.

March 25, 1989: Randall is done. He's quit. He mumbles about her being infuriating by asking a lot of questions. She's even demanded to come to Monstropolis. She's looking for companionship and which would require her to have a single monster and be said monster's only assignment. We simply can't facilitate this for her. Filing to have door destroyed and file written off. Child is done with MI contact. Sending reports to Agent 0001 for review.

March 30, 1989: Received report of child and attempts to elicit response to no avail. Pulled monsters assigned records. All are impeccable, and all tried their hardest, but she couldn't be reached. Even her monster assigned from birth dropped her. Puzzling. Looking into alternatives. Don't want to destroy door until absolutely necessary. Still looking into possible avenues.

April 3, 1989: I have a theory, but I'll need Sully's permission. An old friend owes me, but I'll have to travel to get the monster required. I hope this works.

April 4, 1989: Presented Sully with theory and got cursory approval. CDA is on board as she is too far under then belief threshold. If she was a little older, we would have already sent her door to be destroyed.

April 7, 1989: Reviewed files more. Setting up for new monster in old training facility outside of town in the forest. I think that this will be a better location for working with my unsanctioned monster. No one from MI knows who I am getting and names will not be recorded. Information will be kept a minimum for monster and child's well-being.

May 1, 1989: Returned from the Forest with new monster. She is willing and able to do this, but I don't know if she is the right fit. Old friend gave her to me to use. I wonder why sometimes, but she has powers that we don't and I hope that they will work. Convincing her to come back with me to Monstropolis was interesting but she seems to want to learn how to scare effectively. I am not sure what she will do once this case is over. I will have no use for her and will escort her back to the Forest.

May 4, 1989: Monster returned. Situation is not what we thought. Monster has registered door to be destroyed. I concur. However, Monster has made contact with the girl and established a link. Monster wants to take door back to Forest, but we simply can't allow it. The door cannot leave Monstropolis. However, I am making certain files and issues available for Monster to maintain contact with girl if needed. I don't know how she'll be able to contact the girl without a door, but I am sure that my newest Monster recruit will find a way once she is back in the Forest. I will stop by and see my old friend. Maybe he can shed some light on the issue. Plus, I've finally dug up some more information on his project. He'll owe me again. We'll see how meeting goes.

The file ended there. She remembered coming back through the door and demanding a way to take the door with her. She learned enough to know that the door was permanently assigned to June. Rumple had given her a small mirror shortly after she returned. She'd never used it. She'd just kept it in her vault. Occasionally, she'd look in it and see the girl, but she was aware the magic wouldn't last forever.

Now she sat in said vault and searched for the mirror. She couldn't find it. She would start with the mirror and hopefully find a door. But, first she had to find the damn thing.


	9. Damned Doors

Regina came through the door with a vengeance. She was angry. She was pissed and she wanted the man dead. She came out the door muttered words that she hadn't said in a long time. She was seething and Roz could see it in her eyes, which had turned a very pretty shade of purple.

"Where can I go to burn off some anger?" Regina asked her when she felt like she could.

"Do you need to destroy something?"

"Yes," Regina hissed.

"Outside of the facility, about a mile to the east there is a pond, nothing lives there."

"Okay, I'll be back."

Roz just watched her as she walked away. She didn't know what happened and Regina hadn't offered anything. She just stormed out. Roz decided to give her a wide berth and wait for her to come back.

Regina waited until she was outside the building to allow her magic to flow. She pictured the pond and teleported herself there. Thankfully, she made it even though she'd never been there. She let out a deep breath and just let her fire balls fly.

She could feel her magic pulling on her energy and she didn't care. She knew that she would be worth nothing by the time she made it back to the facility and Roz. As she was letting her anger flow, she had to remind herself that she needed to save just enough energy to get back to the facility. When she felt herself getting depleted almost to empty, she started screaming until her throat was raw.

It had been a very long time since she was that angry. And, she didn't have magic then. She didn't want to think about it. She knew that if she'd had magic, she would have done more than banished her mother when she killed Daniel that night in the stable. She needed to get herself under control. For one, she didn't want to hurt Roz or any other monster in Monstropolis that she might accidentally come across. And two, she didn't need Rumple to find out that she didn't have control. He would exploit it to the max. He was a bastard of the highest order and she didn't need to give him any leverage against her.

Finally, she was calm enough to return to the old scare facility and to see Roz. She dusted herself off and cleaned up a little. As she walked away from the pond, she teleported herself to just outside the facility. Takin a few deep breaths, she went back inside.

She found Roz sitting or standing behind a desk. She couldn't really tell. It looked like she was doing paperwork.

"Better?" Roz asked without looking up.

"Yes."

"Good," Roz replied.

"Did no one ever have a violent reaction like that after seeing her?"

"No."

"How long is the average stay through a door?"

"Fifteen minutes to an hour, why?"

Regina just nodded in reply. She paced around the desk a little. Finally, she stopped and faced Roz again.

"I want to take her door with me."

"You can't."

"You say that like you have a choice in giving it to me," Regina stated.

"I do, because you don't. The doors cannot leave Monstropolis. I can't let you take it."

"I will take it."

"Regina, it won't work without the technology we have. You could have the door, but you have no way to make it work. They don't operate on magic."  
Regina just glared at her.

"What happened in there?"

Regina glared harder, if it was possible. She snarled a little and the moved right to the front of the desk. She placed both hands on the edge, palms down, thumbs wrapped around the edge and leaned in towards Roz.

"That girl has been through enough. No more monsters. No more visits. Her door retires. Destroy it if you must, but she is now under my protection."

"What happened?" Roz asked again, but this time the gravelly nature of voice about set Regina off.

"That girl...she's been through enough."

"Regina, you were there for almost eight hours her time, but only three here. I need to know what happened if you want me to help her. I can't do that if you won't tell me."

"Just destroy the door."

"Okay, I'll schedule it."

"NOW!"

Roz blustered a little at her demands. Regina continued to pace, but while she did, she pushed up her sleeves to her dress. Roz noticed the wound on her forearm.

"Tell me what happened to you in her room, Regina. I can't do anything about the door until I have something to put in my report. Just have a seat. Calm down and tell me what happened," Roz told her.

"I did as you instructed and entered the room. She was asleep and didn't even know I was there. I looked around the room. She had a picture of a dragon on her wall. It was big and scaly, purple and black, fierce and deadly. It was the only true personalization in the room. I took it to believe that she liked dragons. So, I decided to take the form of one, so I could talk to her and not give up the facade of being a monster."

"And?"

"She seemed to take to the form."

"So, what happened?"

"You aren't the monsters in her life."

"What does that mean?"

"The man that is supposed to be caring for her..."

"He's her monster?"

"Yes."

"What happened Regina? I need you to tell me specifics. I can't help her if you don't tell me."

"He comes to her room at night to have her. She told me it wasn't every night, but nights that he's been drinking. She tries to hide under her bed, but he always finds   
her. She has no escape from. I can't leave her there..."

"Regina, you can't do anything for her. You aren't from her realm. What would it look like if you suddenly appeared to take her away? You would be no better than their story of Peter Pan. She could be a lost girl, but you aren't Pan. You can't just take her away in the night. That isn't how things are done."

"I could. I mean, I could go get her and bring her back to my castle to live. She wouldn't be afraid. I could care for her."  
"No, you can't. She has to stay in her world and you have to go back to yours. I cannot allow you to use her door to bring her through," Roz told her.

"I could find another way with magic. I wouldn't need the door. I just want it. I want to be able to check on her."

"I'll tell you what I am going to do," Roz started.

Regina finally sat down. She huffed and then took another deep breath. She closed her eyes, centered herself because she felt her anger rising again, and then slowly opened her eyes to look into Roz's.

"What?"

"I am going to keep her door...here for the next few years for her. I will personally monitor her. And, I pull Randall back to go check on her periodically."

"What is Randall's talent?" Regina asked.

"He is lizard like and can mimic anything around him. She would never know he was there, but should Mr. Black try anything with her again, Randall would step in. He   
might be one of my smaller monsters, but he is quite effective when need be. He also owes us a lot. I would make this part of his retribution. But, that is another story. His heart is in the right place, your majesty. He will protect your charge."

"I might have over stepped my bounds," Regina added.

"How so?"

"I threatened him."

"Did you touch him?"

"Yes."

"Did he touch you?"

"Only in so much as to try to get away from me, but I had him in such a manner that I wasn't going to let go," Regina told her.

"Well, you aren't a monster, so I don't have to decontaminate you. I see nothing wrong with what you did for her. Unless there is something else?" Roz asked when she saw Regina tense up a little.

"Decon...what?"

"Human artifacts do strange things in our world so we have to destroy them. If he'd touched you and you were a monster, we would have had to scrub you down and taken you to the hospital for treatment. You aren't a monster, so that isn't a problem."

Regina just cocked her eyebrow. She wasn't sure if she should tell Roz about the scale, but she decided that it might be in girl's best interest if she did. Shifting in the chair, she squared herself and fixed her posture. She knew that her mother would have said something to say if she could see her, but she didn't care. She was a queen, but she wasn't acting like it. She didn't know how she was acting. She just wanted to get June out of that situation.

"I might have done something else," Regina said as she sat there now regally.

"Define something."

"I might have promised to watch over the girl."

"And, how do you plan on doing that?" Roz asked her.

"I have my ways."

"Does that have anything to do with the abrasion on your arm?" Roz inquired.

Regina looked confused for a moment. She looked down at her arm and saw the wound. When she looked back up, her eyes were wide.

"I'll take that as a yes," Roz stated. "What happened? Don't leave anything out. I'll need it for my official report."

"I want a copy of it."

"I'll make you one before I take you back to the Forest."

"Thank you."

"Now, your arm," Roz stated as she pointed to the wound this time.

"I was in my dragon form."

"And?"

"I had already...removed Mr. Black from the situation. I informed him that if he even so much as thought about touching her again, I would know, and I would come   
back to kill him. I believe he actually soiled himself as I threw him out the bedroom door."

"No need to be smug about it."

"He deserved worse, but once he was gone, I knew that I had to care for June. I found her under the bed and got her to come out. Why she trusted me I don't know. I am just another monster to her, but I was the monster that took the time to figure out what was wrong."

"Sometimes we miss the obvious," Roz replied.

"Yes...yes...we do. Since I was still glammored as the dragon from her picture, I pulled a scale from my arm and gave it to her. A talisman of sorts to protect her. I did imbibe it with some magic. It will help her sleep and she can use it to let me know she's in trouble. I might not have her door to get to her, but I have magic and I'll find a way to help her. I don't care what it costs me."

"Did you give her a name?"

"For myself?"

"Yes."

"Yes, I did, but it wasn't my own."

"What was it?" Roz asked her.

"Scylla."

"The Sea Dragon and mother of monsters...hmm...fitting I guess."

"If you say so," Regina added.

"Go get some sleep, Regina. I will finish up my reports and file them. I'll have your copies to take back with you."

"And, when will I go home?" Regina asked her.

"In the morning," Roz replied.

"And, the door?"

"Will stay right there for now."

"And, then?"

"I will have it permanently assigned to this facility. No one will know it is here except myself, Randall, and President Sully."

"Good."

"We'll take care of it, Regina. I promise. I never leave a child unattended until they are of age," Roz told her.

"How long does she have?"

"Until her eighth birthday," Roz answered.

"So under three years..."

"She'll be fine. I promise. If there is an issue, I'll inform you via my channels," Roz said.

"Hopefully, he'll actually tell me if you do," Regina stated.

"I have information for you to give him. He'll owe me for it. He'll tell you if I call upon him again. Trust me."

"I'll try," Regina replied as she walked back into the training room simulator to try to sleep for a while.


	10. Finding the Mirror

Regina was still in the vault trying to hunt down the mirror that Rumple had given her after she'd come back from Monstropolis. She knew that it would be easiest way for her to find out if June was okay. She didn't delude herself into thinking that she would still be a girl but thinking about what happened to Henry in Neverland and hearing Emma's comments, Regina knew that she had to find out something. She tore sections apart and then put them back together.

She tried to remember the last place that she saw the mirror and when. Nothing came to her. And, then she remembered what Rumple told her when he gave it to her. She shook her head. There was no way for her to find June without going to see Emma. The mirror was gone. It had served its purpose. She had no way to contact Roz, if the old slug was even still alive, if she wanted to. There was no bond between them. And, even if she tried to use Henry's closet, he was too old. No monster visited him.

She laughed at the thought of Henry's monster. The poor thing was frightened by him within the first week. Henry had never honestly been afraid of him and he tried his best to make Henry scared, but he hardly got anywhere. She figured it was the magic of the curse and didn't pursue it. But, thinking about it now and how June reacted, she wondered more about it and how the monsters were chosen for each child.

Giving up on her search, she decided that she needed to make a call on Monstropolis. She huffed when she realized that she would have to go see Rumple about it. He was the only one that might have enough power to open a portal between the two worlds, or he would know how. She knew that it wasn't the best idea, but it was the only one that she could come up with. It wasn't like any of her magical texts spoke about Monstropolis or monsters. It was a human creation from the Land Without Magic.

She teleported back to her mansion and then got into her car. She felt like driving, even though it was only a short distance into town from the mayoral manor. She hoped that the short drive would help her clear her head enough before she dealt with Rumple. She parked on the street just outside his pawn shop. Steeling herself, she went inside.

"Hello, Dearie," he greeted her.

"Rumple."

"What have I done this time that you've come to ask me about yourself?" he questioned.

"Nothing."

"Then what do I owe this pleasure to?"

"I need to find someone."

He cocked her eyebrow at her and then leaned against his glass counter. It was obvious that he was waiting for her to tell him more. His smile grew as her nervousness grew.

"I don't want to waste town money on it and I know that you can find them faster than if I sent Miss Swan after them."

"I don't know about that. She can actually leave town, and all... But, who is it that you want me to find?"

"A woman."

His face changed. It wasn't what he was expecting. He still liked to rub in the fact that Regina had come to him to get a child. Only he knew that he was bringing her the child of the Saviour, the child of Snow's child. However, he didn't know it was his own grandson at the time or he would have kept him for himself. But, thinking about quickly, Henry could have done worse than having Regina as a mother. She actually loved the boy regardless of his lineage and that endeared his former pupil to him a little more.

"A woman? Surely, there is someone here that could..."

"Don't finish that thought, Imp. I don't want a woman for that. I...I need to check on someone outside of Storybrooke."

"Outside of town?"

"Yes, she doesn't know about Storybrooke, but she knows me. I need to know that she is doing well. I feel like I might have failed her in someway."

"Still trying to make up for things that you did in the Enchanted Forest at the Evil Queen, are we, Dearie?" Rumple inquired.

"I never met her there."

"Then, where?"

"Monstropolis, thanks to your friend, Roz, whom I've gathered found Bae for you here in this realm," Regain informed him.

"The girl?"

"Yes, I want to know what became of her," Regina stated.

"I see. That is a reasonable request. I will look into it for you."

"No cost?"

"Oh...we'll call this a freebie. You did get me the information about Baelfire being here thanks to Roz by helping that girl. So, I guess in sense, I owe you."

"Well, thank you."

"I'll get your information as soon as I can. I don't promise anything, but I will do my best. But, why haven't you used the mirror, Dearie? Lost it already?"

Regina just looked at him. Her eyes narrowed. She didn't answer as she saw the strange smile on his face.

"Good day, Rumple."

"Always a pleasure, Your Majesty," he replied as she exited the shop.

Since she was already in town, she decided to go see Emma. She didn't know why she felt that she should, but she did. She wanted to make sure that the Sheriff was   
still doing well and that Neverland hadn't scarred her too much. She walked to the Sheriff's office.

When she entered the building, she started absentmindedly rubbing her left arm. She didn't notice it, really, but she did feel a pang of pain there. She dismissed it as soon as she felt it. She hadn't hit her arm. She just figured that it was a nervous twitch because she'd left Rumple's shop. She had them a lot as young apprentice to the Dark One when she was younger. She thought she'd outgrown them, but evidently, he still found ways of getting to her now.

Emma was in her office. It looked like she was playing another resounding round of trash can basketball. Regina would have been more amused if she wasn't still on edge. Emma looked up just in time to see Regina coming straight for her. She dropped her legs from her desk and sat up. Straightening her jacket, she waited to the lecture to begin. None came. Regina just sat down across from her.

"Is there something that I can help you with, Madam Mayor?"

"I think I should be asking you that question, Miss Swan."

"I thought that we were past the Miss Swan stage."

"You're on duty, Miss Swan. I think that it lends to your profession. Or, would you rather I just call you Sheriff Swan?"

"I was hoping we could drop the whole Swan thing, but whatever. What did you need, Regina? If you came to check up on me, I am good. I don't need a babysitter.   
Now, if I could just get my parents to realize that, I think things would be great," Emma told her.

"Would you like me to talk to them?"

"Regina, you don't talk to them. You dictate to them. I don't think that you've honestly not just commanded them to do something," Emma stated and then cocked her   
head as if in thought about it.

"That isn't the issue here."

"Then what is?"

"I was coming to make sure that you were still well," Regina told her.

"I'm fine."

"Well, you know you could come over again if you need to sleep."

"Is that a permanent offering?" Emma asked.

"It might be."

"Why?"

"I would feel better knowing that you were sleeping. Plus, Henry sleeps better with you near. I am not saying that we make it a permanent thing, like you moving in or   
something, but just know if you need it, I'll keep the guest room open for you," Regina told her.

"I appreciate that," Emma replied.

"Is there anything that you need to report?"

"Not really. Just the normal. A few speeding tickets. Leroy being drunk and disorderly. Nothing of true consequence."

 

"Well, let's keep it that way."

"There is one thing that I am wondering about," Emma said.

"And, that would be?"

"The Lost Boys."

"What about them?"

"Are we going to keep them here in Storybrooke or are we going to find their families?"

"I think it depends on when they were taken."

Emma nodded, "I hadn't thought of that."

"I would think that you would be doing some inquiries in their families and when they were taken," Regina stated.

"I am. It's just that...I know what it's like to be wondering about a family. Dad and I have been talking to them. Some of them don't want to talk. Some want to go back   
to Neverland. They would rather face the perils of Pan and that crazy land of never growing old, then go home. On some levels, I understand them. I know what they've been through. I know what they will go through. But, there are a few that I wonder how well they will acclimate to our little way of life here," Emma stated.

"I understand that, Emma. Those are all valid concerns. Felix is the boy I am most worried about. He being Pan's second in command, I am afraid of what he might do. Especially now that we are back here and they are in school. Have there been any reports of the boys acting out terribly?"

"According to Snow, nothing more than normal. Felix seems to be the worst of them all, but he at least is keeping mostly to himself. He seems to be lost without Pan   
to command him. I don't know what to do with him. He won't go to a family and he doesn't want to try to fit in. Neal tried but being Rumple’s son didn’t go over so well. I am almost tempted to give him to the dwarves and call it a done deal. I think that Leroy, Doc and the rest would have better luck with him. I doubt that dwarves want him, but I can't take him. And, as much as I love my parents, I don't think that they are ready for an angsty teenager."

"I would offer to take him, but his history with Henry would preclude me from being helpful in this situation."

Emma just nodded. Felix was going to be a problem and they both knew it. But, they couldn't leave him behind. Now, Emma was worried that he might turn feral and start attacking. She thought about letting Ruby handle him, but she wasn't sure that the Wolf wouldn't eat him.

She was about to say something else when one of the thousand citizens of Storybrooke came in. Emma moved to greet them. The man smiled at Emma and then looked at Regina. His smile faded but he didn't stop. He kept coming towards Emma's office. Emma met him just outside the door, Regina just behind her.

"Sheriff," he said in greeting.

"Armand," Emma replied.

"I found some things at the stables this morning. I couldn't place them until I ran across one item. I think that these are all Mr. Gold's."

"You're sure?" Emma asked as she reached for the bag Armand was holding.

He gave her the bag. She opened the burlap sack and looked inside. It looked like old trinkets and miscellaneous items. Things that possible could have been from Gold's shop. She handed the bag to Regina to look through it. Regina knew that it was because Emma was worried about one of the items being magical in nature.

"Do you think it was the boys?" Emma asked him.

"I am not sure. I don't know where it came from. I just didn't want Rumple to think that I took them from him," Armand told her.

"I understand. I'll return it to him. Thank you for bringing it by," Emma told him.

Regina studied each piece carefully. She couldn't make heads or tails of most of them. She didn't know what most of it was, but she knew the second her hands hit the mirror. She felt its magic. She pulled it out and put it her pocket. She would use it later. Now, they needed to deal with the bag, its contents and the fact that they all might be Rumple's.

"Anything?"

"No," Regina lied.

"I'll take it back to Rumple."

"I'll be in my office," Regina told her as she left the office, her hand in her pocket, covering the mirror.


	11. Seeing the Unseen

Regina stepped through the portal and was back in Rumple's castle. Her didn't meet her, which was probably a good thing. She was still angry. She had her reports from Roz, but she knew that they wouldn't do her any good. She wasn't able to get back to June...at least, not yet.

She worked her way through the castle until she came upon the courtyard. She saw Rumple talking with a young girl. She immediately took interest in the girl because of how Rumple was acting. They seemed to be more than friendly, and Regina didn't remember anyone being at the castle when she was there last, or ever before either. She shook her head. She didn't have time to deal with that. She needed to find a way to get back to June, if she could, or a way to contact her, if she couldn't. Having something over Rumple could wait. Plus, she needed to get back to her own castle and make sure that Snow hadn't destroyed the kingdom yet with civil war.  
She stood there for a few more minutes until she saw the girl leave. Then she made her presence known. She called out to him.

"Rumple!"

He turned immediately, worry on his face, and she could guess why. He didn't smile, but he didn't look mad. He moved with purpose across the courtyard until he was in front of her. His gold skin and strange eyes took her in. She looked nonplussed.

"You're back. Did everything work out in the end? Did Roz get her monster?"

"She did," Regina answered.

"But, I see you sent you back to me," Rumple stated.

"In the end, she didn't need a monster like me, Rumple. There was already a monster handling the girl that she didn't know about. It's been dealt with. She did however give me something for you."

"She did, Dearie? And, what would that be?" he asked her.

Regina held her hand out in front of her. It was empty and then a scroll appeared in it. He reached out and took it. Slowly unwinding the twine that kept it close, he watched her for any sort of clue what might be written upon the parchment in his hand. She gave nothing away. She hadn't read it. She wanted to, but she knew that he would know if she had. She was sure that it was something that she could use against him, but she also knew how dangerous he was.

Rumple gave her many latitudes, more than others. She was a project to him as long as she amused him. Getting on his bad side never worked out well for anyway and she still wanted to learn more magic. She figured that she would continue to use him until she felt comfortable enough to survive with him and his brand of magic. She knew that he would never voluntarily quit her until she was of no use or amusement. She could walk away, and she knew that he would find a new apprentice. She wasn't deluding herself when it came to him.

She knew that there had been something between her mother and him at one point. She wasn't as naïve as some people thought she was. Her father had tried to shield her from the imp, but her mother didn't care. She kept Rumple a secret as long as she had her magic. When Regina had stumbled upon one of her magical books and found his name, she figured a lot of their relationship out. Rumple was more than happy to take her on as a student, mostly because it would piss Cora off and he didn't care about Cora's feelings anymore. For Regina, it was for the same reasons, so she saw it as a win-win situation for them both.

Rumple finally unrolled the scroll and skimmed it quickly. He looked up at Regina. His eyes were a little watery and Regina quirked an eyebrow in response.

"If there is nothing else that you need, Regina, you can go home. I am sure your darling step-daughter is just clambering to see you," he said quickly as he returned to reread the parchments in his hands.

When his head snapped up at her, she hesitated in leaving. There was something in his eyes that she couldn't quite make out and it looked painful. She let him look at her for a few minutes more before it started to make her bluster. She was just about to say something when he raised a hand at her and motioned for her to stop.

"Wait," he commanded.

She did.

"Do you know what this says?" he asked her.

"No."

"You didn't read it?"

"No."

He snapped her fingers and waited. She didn't move. She didn't writhe. She did nothing as she watched him and waited to see what else he needed from her, even   
though he'd already dismissed her.

"Roz says that you did very well with her little experiment, but she hopes that he doesn't have to call on you again. Care to tell me what happened? Or, do I really not   
want to know?"

"I became a monster to get her information. I got the information and was told that I was no longer needed," Regina told him purposefully holding back on what really   
happened.

She didn't know what the scroll stated, but she doubted that Roz had gone to any length about it with Rumple. She was as cautious about him as Regina was. And, the fact that Rumple was fishing for answers meant he didn't have a clear picture. She wasn't going to give it to him, either.

He waved his hands. A small mirror appeared in one of his hands. He pushed it towards Regina with a fury. She reached out tentatively and took it.

"What's this?"

"A mirror," he stated.

"I can see that, Rumple. I have several, remember? A genie even trapped in one back at the castle. What's so special about this one?" she asked him as she inspected it   
in her hands.

"It lets you see the unseen," he told her.

She looked at him like he had four heads, but she didn't ask for clarification. She'd just figure it out on her own like she had with so many other things that he'd given her over the years. She didn't doubt the mirror's power, but she wondered why he felt the need to give it to her.

"You can go," he said dismissing her again.

She didn't need to be told twice. She hated the Shadowlands. She hated his castle. She knew that he still could come to her in Winterlands. She hated that, too, but she dealt with it better because she was on her own turf.

She could have said many things to him, but she honestly just wanted to go home. She missed her own bed. She missed...too many things.

She was in the room that she had been using at Rumple's quickly. She packed up her few belongings and made her way to the stable. She knew Rocinante was there   
waiting on her. She saddled him quickly and before Rumple could stop her, she was gone.

Riding was freedom to her. She loved it. She loved just being able to get on her horse and go. Riding Rocinante was peaceful and she knew that she needed to clear her head before she got back to her own castle.

He was her best friend. He listened. He didn't judge. She could talk to him. She could talk things out with him. If he didn't like something, he'd let her know. Usually it was by a look, or a snout to the boot when she was riding, but he never failed to make her know and understand. He protected her. She protected him. They were a pair and he gave her the companionship that she craved so much and that her mother refused her.

"Alright, Rocinante, let's go."

He took off into the woods like a shot. She felt free, freer than she had been in years. She wanted to stay atop him and just ride, but she knew that she couldn't. She   
had to get back to the castle. She had to quell Snow's little rebellion and move on. She didn't want to dwell on it too much longer, to the point that she was willing to strike a peace treaty with her. If Snow stayed in the Summerlands with Charming and she would stay in the Winterlands. If not...well...she hoped that it wouldn't come to that. She just wanted to be left alone and make her own way, her way, for once. She knew that it was a long shot, but she couldn't help but want it anyway.  
She didn't care as Rocinante tore through the trees and brush. She didn't care as branches reached for her, tore at her, whipped in her face and at her legs. Any damage could be healed with magic. She needed this ride and she knew that Rocinante was having fun. It wasn't often that she just let him run loose.

She knew that she would have to get back to the castle tonight, but she didn't want to think about that. It was still early enough in the afternoon that she could ride longer. She needed this. Rocinante needed this. Her people needed for her to do this.

She was still so angry and this was one of the few ways that she could calm down before she stepped foot into the castle again. She knew that as soon as she did, it would feel like a prison. She was a slave to the throne and what it meant. Her marriage had enslaved her. Her life was not her own. She owed the people the best lives they could have and she was trying so hard to get them there. She wasn't a horrible ruler, but she had Leopold killed. It was enough for Snow to deem her evil. And,   
sure she was hard on the people, but they didn't see what she saw. Leopold had been too tolerant and it left them open for attack. If George had secured the money from Midas, the Winterlands wouldn't exist. But, no one really knew what she'd done. They couldn't. They didn't want to.

She leaned her head back and took a deep breath. The fresh air of the fields, streams, and mountains filled her as she cleared the area that Rumple ruled over. She felt her heart lighten. Her body actually relaxed more. She held on to Rocinante with her thighs as he still galloped along with trails and roads leading her back to the castle nestled in the wintery mountains. It was late in the season and she knew there'd be snow when they arrived.

As the sun started to set, she waved her hands an opened a portal big enough for them both. Rocinante ran right through it like he had no qualms. He'd seen enough with Regina to know what to do. They appeared just outside the castle gates. She rode him into the castle stables before turning him over to a stable boy.

"Brush him down and give him a good rinse. Clean his tack and give him a few apples. He deserves it. Give him fresh hay and oats. When your done with that, let my   
steward know and you'll be rewarded," she told him as he took the reins and she walked away.

She had her small back slung over her shoulder as she entered the castle. She made her way up to her rooms, dismissing everyone on her way there. She didn't want to be bothered, so she wasn't going to let it happen. She wanted to know more about the mirror.

She dropped her bag on a table in her room. She dumped its contents out. She rifled through them until her hands landed on the mirror.  
She wondered if the mirror would respond to her like her mirror would. She knew her mirror worked because she'd trapped the Genie inside it. But, there were no beings in this mirror.

"Mirror, show me June Black," she commanded the small hand held mirror.

The glass swirled with magic. When the fog disappeared, she saw many things. One was a vehicle that read: Suffolk County Sheriff. She saw some uniformed men taking that bastard Black away. She saw a dark skinned woman with June standing away from them all. She was holding June's hand and bent down to say something in her ear. Regina wished that she could hear her, but the smile on June's smile was enough. She knew that she was safe. She could see it. Rumple had given her a way, even when Roz couldn't.

"What news did that scroll contain?" Regina wondered as she watched the scenes unfolding in the mirror.


	12. Scales of Truth

Emma had just left Rumple's. He'd taken the bag back gratefully. He didn't even bother examining the contents. He assured her that everything was there. He could just tell. She cocked an eyebrow, but let it go. If he didn't want to pursue it, she wasn't going to make him. She knew that he could and would eventually come to her if there was something more missing.

She figured it really was the Lost Boys. She knew that Rumple had a soft spot for them and he would do what he could for them without it being overt. She was proud of him in that sense, but she'd hope that he turn to her when she could stop them from being too destructive. She didn't understand Gold, but then no one really did. She just smiled as she made her way out of the shop.

It was just after lunch time and she knew that Regina hadn't eaten. How she knew she couldn't explain, but she just knew. So, on her way back from Gold's pawn shop, she stopped into Granny's.

Ruby was behind the counter taken orders. She smiled at the brunette. Ruby motioned for her to come to counter. They were in full lunch swing and she knew that Emma just wanted a to go order. As soon as Emma sat down, a glass of water was placed in front of her.

"What's this?" she asked Ruby.

"Your order will be up soon," Ruby told her as she moved down the counter, refilling drinks and collecting tabs.

"But, I haven't ordered yet," Emma called out to her.

"Sure you did...as soon as you came in," Ruby started as she came back down the end of the counter that Emma was sitting at. "It's lunch time. So, you're going to get a bacon cheeseburger with garden, because the mayor got you hooked on lettuce and tomato now. You're also getting a grilled chicken Caesar salad, dressing on the side, for the mayor. Two bottles of root beer, ice cold, and two scalding hot coffees, one black and one with two creams and a sugar. Don't tell me otherwise."

"How do you do that?" Emma asked her.

"One," Ruby said leaning closer, "You smell like her."

"Okay, and?"

"Which means that y'all met up earlier? Which leads me to two. It's lunch time and your here."

"I don't understand."

"You only make the lunch crowd when you are getting lunch for the two of you because you're both going to hole up in the mayor's office until you come up with   
something or some sort of resolution."

"I never said that I was going to see her, Rubes."

"Didn't deny it, either. And, three, you're order is ready," Ruby told her as she handed over the bag of food and a tray of drinks. "Go on now. Don't want to keep the mayor waiting."

"Thanks, Rubes," she said as she laid some money down on the counter.

"No problem," Ruby replied as she picked up the money from the counter.

Emma just waved as she left. She wondered if Ruby was hinting at something else, but she let it go. She knew that she needed to figure out everything with the Lost Boys. They needed homes and families. She already had her limited resources and her computers were running, non-stop, looking through missing persons and other like cases throughout the country. But, Emma was afraid that most of the children weren't from America.

She walked through foyer of the town hall. She nodded at the old man that was sitting at the front desk of the Storybrooke Town Hall. He looked up from his paper   
and smiled at Emma.

"Sheriff," he said as she started towards Regina's office.

"Cole," she replied.

"Lunch date?"

"Something like that. How's Finn doing? Still working on finding a bridge home?"

"He's trying, but without his hammer..."

"I'll keep looking, but I don't have any leads," she told him as she continued on her way.

In her office, Regina was sitting at her desk. The small mirror in hand. She stared at the reflective glass, but she couldn't bring herself to say anything into it. It hadn't been but an hour and she was still staring at it. She studied it. She had to be sure. She didn't want to be disappointed.

She pulled out a book from her small library of magical books. She flipped through the entries until she saw the picture of the mirror in it. She'd drawn it in this book of magical artifacts.

"The Mirror of the Unseen..." she read aloud as her index finger ran across her old script. "Small in nature but powerful magic is inside. The name is misleading, but that isn't a surprise if Rumple created it. The mirror glass is surrounded by a dark stained wood, almost a deep mahogany. It looks to be hand carved by a master. The flowers don't look familiar, but then again they do. They weren't really roses or daisies, but they look like a flower native to the lands of Summer and that of King George. A small golden ring surrounds the glass directly and the wood seems be fused to it somehow."

She turned the mirror over. She'd marked it, just in case she ever lost it, so she'd know it was her mirror quickly. She knew how easy it was to fake magical items. She destroyed all the fakes that she could find or that she'd been presented with while she was queen. Her markings were still etched into the wood.

"Could it honestly be the mirror?" she asked aloud.

She sat it down on her desk and got up. She paced around her office for a few minutes. Stopping at her drink cart, she poured herself a tumbler of cider. As she continued to pace, she sipped the drink. When she neared the statue of Rocinante, she started talking to him, missing his gentleness and listening ear.

"I don't know what to do," she told him.

She paced around, still sipping.

"She couldn't possibly remember me, could she?"

Turning to face the statue head on, "It isn't like she ever really met me. She met a dragon. A dragon that she's never called for. I doubt she even remembers me. How could she? I was just a figment of her imagination that night. I just gave her the courage to fight back."

She sat her tumbler down on the banquet/conference table. She took off her blazer and draped it over the back of a chair. She started pacing again, but this time as she moved back and forth through her office, she rolled up the sleeves of her crisp, white, linen shirt. It was an absent-minded movement. She paused for a moment and ran her hands through her hair. She hated feeling like this. She needed to know. She wanted to know that June Black was safe and cared for. It was like a weight bearing down on her and she needed to find a way to ease it.

She stared across the room at the mirror sitting on her desk. It called out to her like a siren. She took a deep breath and huffed. She hated this. She had a way to know if June was okay and she was debating using it. Gold had even agreed to find her for Regina. She didn't care what his motive was. She was just glad that he agreed to help period. She'd expected him to do what he could, but honestly, neither of them would cross the town line. It was the one prevision in the curse that they couldn't break. Only those from the Enchanted Forest that hadn't been there during curse or who were born after it could cross the line. Fortunately for Regina, she didn't fall in either category. She could cross the line, but she’d only do so for Henry. She didn’t like the way she felt over the line, and she didn’t want to chance the fact that she might actually lose her way back to Storybrooke if she crossed it. She just needed to know, though.

She moved across the room and gathered her tumbler again. Taking a few more sips, she felt herself start to actually relax again. She knew that it was too early to be drinking, but she didn't care. She wasn't planning on getting drunk. She just needed to take the edge off. She needed to feel like she was in control of something again. She still felt the sting of Neverland.

She didn't want to admit how much she struggled in that jungle. She didn't want to admit that once again had Emma not stepped up to help her, things would have ended very badly. Fortunately, she didn't create this problem. She was just trying to solve it, just like Emma. The Sheriff had an uncanny knack of showing up at the right time for Regina. She wondered if that was part of her Charming blood or if was something more.

"That's enough," she told herself as she moved across the room again.

This time she stood behind her desk. She looked at the mirror and picked it up. Turning it over and over in her hands, she turned to face out the windows behind her desk. She looked down at her beloved apple tree. She thought about things that she could ask to see. Of course, the more she thought about it, the more she wanted to see June.

She waved her hand over her desk. The file from her vault appeared. She flipped through it again. The picture still didn't do the small girl justice. She guessed the picture Roz supplied was around June's fifth year. She had her birthday and other information. She knew that she should give it to Rumple as soon as he was in contact with his people outside of Storybrooke. Knowing her birthday would help in tracking her down, but it almost meant that she would be about the same age as Snow, Emma and a few years younger than herself in appearance.

"What if she doesn't want to have anything to do with me?" she asked as she turned back to the window and her apple tree below.

Then another thought hit her...hard.

"What if she does?"

She wasn't prepared for something like that. How could she explain magic to someone who was older? Someone who didn't have their childhood. This land didn't have magic. And, she'd been a dragon when she'd met her. June would have no reason to give Regina the time of day.

Finally, the need and the want overrode her cautious nature. She looked down into the mirror. Her reflection looked back at her and then she finally asked it.

"Mirror, show me June Black."

Like it had so many years ago, the mirror turned foggy with magic. It swirled and swirled until it broke apart and centered on a small town street. Her heart leapt. She tried to study the street and the town, but the fog reappeared and swarmed the image. She held to the mirror tighter, hoping somehow that her grip would make the image clearer. The fog faded, and a building appeared. The image blurred again and zoomed in almost. Until the it stopped in front of door. The words on the door made her gasp. It read: Mayor of Storybrooke Regina Mills.

The door opened, and Emma came through, carrying lunch and drinks. Regina looked up from the mirror and straight into Emma's eyes. In that moment, she didn't see Emma before her. She saw the lost and lonely little June with her electric green eyes.

"Regina?" Emma asked when she saw the look on her face.

Instead of answering, Regina looked down in the mirror. Sure enough, Emma was the figure being shown just as she was before her. Tears filled Regina's eyes. She didn't know if she should be happy or angry with fate for fucking with her again.

"Regina?" Emma probed again as she set the food and drinks down on the conference table and started for Regina.

Regina put a hand up and kept her at arm's length. It was then that Emma noticed the scar on Regina's left arm. She'd never see it before to ask how she got it. Regina had always managed to keep arms covered around her. It was a distinctive scar and it reminded her of the guitar pick she kept in her back pocket of her jeans all the time.

Regina just stared at her.

"Regina, say something. What's wrong? Is it Henry? Did something happen?" Emma questioned immediately going to the worst possible scenario in her head.

"It can't be..."

"What can't be, Regina? Tell me. You're scaring me, Regina. What's wrong?"

"Could you really be her?"

"Could I be who?"

"June..."

The name was a shock to Emma. She'd buried that part of her life so far down that it wasn't even a real memory. It all seemed to be just a big story, a fantasy that she made up, so that she felt loved. She looked back down at Regina's arm.

"Scylla?"

Regina looked up into her eyes. She had tears in her eyes as she looked Emma over. She just nodded as let her left arm cover in scales to prove herself. Emma sat down at the table hard.


	13. Desperate Measures

Regina sat down at the crude table in her cell. She was tired, and she was still bitter. The two didn't necessarily go together, but she made them work. She looked out the small window that Snow had afforded her in the tower. The sack cloth she was dressed in just helped dampen her mood. She knew that Snow wouldn't afford her dresses and finery. She was being treated as a normal criminal but with more precautions. She was the only prisoner in her cell. She was locked away in the tower and was guarded by no less than twenty men from the top to the bottom of the tower. And said tower was attached to Snow's blasted castle. She could see down to the courtyard below. She saw the pole in which she would be tied to while they executed her.

She doubted that Snow could go through with it. She seemed to not have a backbone when it came to Regina and Regina liked to exploit that. She already had when she got Snow to bring her the magical mini-mirror that she always carried with her. It hadn't taken long for her to convince Snow to give her the mirror. Two days, in fact, but she'd brought it with her and the knowledge that she would be executed before the week's end.

It was enough to demoralize anyone. But, Regina wasn't losing hope. No, she was getting angry. Her own father couldn't calm her. And, the only thing that she regretted now was not killing Snow when she had the chance. Now, she was pacing in a cell and plotting revenge.

She pulled the mirror out and asked to see June. The girl was no longer a girl. She was a teenager and doing well. It was one of the few things that helped Regina stay hopeful that she might finally find her happy ending with Snow White dead by her hand. She didn't care what came after it as long as Snow was dead. A life for a life in her mind was fitting pay back for Snow's betrayal and Daniel's death.

But, Snow had stopped the execution. Snow came to see her every night. She knew it, but she didn't acknowledge it. She didn't want to. Snow had spared her and for what, to let her rot in this cell. She stared down at the post and wondered why Snow waited to stop the execution. Could the spoiled brat actually not go through with it? Was she really that “good” that she couldn't order her own step-mother to death? It made Regina sick. She wouldn't have hesitated. She would have given the order, carried it out, then left the courtyard to celebrate Snow's death.

Then Snow's test...she failed gloriously. Rumple knew she would which is why he went along with it. She wanted to hate him for helping Snow and Charming. Snow had given her the opportunity to kill her but only with Rumple's magical knife. She gave her the chance to walk away and live her life as a free woman amongst the people however she saw fit. Trying to stab Snow right off wasn't the greatest plan in the world, but it got her out of that damned tower and away from Snow.  
With nowhere else to go, she turned to her old mentor. As much as it pained her to be in Rumple's debt, she went with him willingly. She knew that he'd helped Snow and Charming and it made her angry, but she decided to channel it. When he realized how angry she was, he told her once again that turning that anger towards Snow and Charming was a waste of energy. She fought it until she thought about it.

"I can't kill them?"

"You cannot harm them in this realm," he stated.

It took days for the thoughts to grow into fruition, but when they did, she found herself at Rumple's castle. Banishment wasn't going to stop her. Snow and Charming figured that Regina would try something, but between the dwarves and the fairies, she had no way of getting into their castle or actually defeating them. Now are her magic was a waste. She couldn't hurt her targets. The best she could hope for was imprisoning them forever and even that wasn't a given. She wanted them dead and she'd been robbed of the opportunity.

"You spoke once of a curse so horrible that no one dared to in act it," Regina stated.

"I did."

"And, you won't even try," she accused him.

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because I am missing some ingredients. You, however, with the right choices could cast it easily. But you'll have to get it back first," he told her.

"Get it back?"

"Maleficent has it for safe keeping. It was partially her curse as well. And, I seriously doubt that she is just going to part with it because you ask for it.

"Leave that to me," Regina stated determinedly.

Rumple just watched her as the anger ate at her soul. He fed the fury with every conversation. Each day was a reminder that she lived outside her kingdom, banished, and slave to a spell that she couldn't break in this realm. He pushed and pushed her. Every time he saw her with the mirror, he gently reminded her that one day, she would have no need for it. She thought it was because she would finally have won, and Snow would be dead. But as the days passed, she wondered what Rumple really  
meant by his statements. She didn't care enough to explore it. She wanted Snow's head on a platter and her desire to cast the Dark Curse grew and grew, until after months of planning and scheming, Regina went to Maleficent.

They fought, but when didn't they? They loved each other, but they were both too combustible to be lovers for long. Regina knew that seduction would only get her so far. Magic maybe a little farther, but not enough. She would need to break the dark dragon at her core. She would need to destroy her heart so thoroughly that she would just allow Regina to leave with the curse. She knew it was wrong. Mal had been, once, not only a lover but one of her closest friends. It hurt them both, but her revenge was the only thing keeping her alive at this point.

When she returned to her newly built castle on the outskirts of the kingdom, she stared into the distance from her balcony. She'd read the curse. She knew what she had to do, but she wasn't ready. She needed to calm the store inside. She tried to take lovers and fuck the misery out, but none of them could reach her deeply enough and those that got too close...she removed their hearts before they could break through the ice around her heart. The only person that could get near enough to her to affect her was her father...blessed Prince Henry...

"Regina, let it go," he urged.

"I will have her head, father and then I will let it go," she promised.

He shook his head at her. He knew that she wouldn't stop. She had her mother's determination and he blamed himself for what Regina had become. If he dared, he would have ended Regina's suffering, but she was his daughter. He couldn't murder her, no matter how many lives he could save. He just tried to be there for her. He took her abuse, like he had from her mother, in hopes that one day she would be tired of it all and then he would help her rebuild. Little did he know, that he wouldn't be able to see that day, personally.

The first time when she used Rocinante's heart, it wasn't enough. She was back in her rooms and thought about it. Rumple didn't love anyone or anything. That is why he couldn't cast the curse. Mal had no one, not even her baby, to love. Regina thought that her beloved horse would be enough. She had no one to love and no one loved her. There was only one that she might actually love, but she didn't exist in this realm.

"Regina, would you like some wine?" he father asked as he entered her room with a goblet of her apple wine.

"Thank you, Father," she told him as she took the goblet.

It hit her fully as she drank. She loved her father more than anyone else in the realm because he was the one person that had never hurt her. He loved her fiercely and he tried his best to protect Regina from her mother, Cora. He'd always stood beside her, no matter what evil she'd done. He'd begged her to beg Snow for her life and forgiveness. He saw banishment as a blessing and a chance for a new start in a life that Regina wanted, a life she could mold as she saw fit, without the influence of her mother or Rumple, or her past.

"Can you meet me in the courtyard, tonight, Papa? I have something I want to show you. It'll be spectacular."

"As you wish, mi estrella," he told her.

"And, Father?"

"Yes, majesty?"

"Have my carriage ready with the fastest horses in the kingdom. There is something that I just must see..."

When he met with her that evening, she tore his heart out and tossed it in her cauldron. Rumple had added enough ingredients to the listing of curse, that she didn't realize what she would actually lose by casting it. Sure, her father, but there was so much more. At the time, she didn't understand that she was being groomed to cast the curse. That she was just a pawn in Rumple's obsession to find his missing son. But, being his pawn would bring her closer to June and she could make sure that the surly teen was well cared for and protected like she promised.

Even as her carriage rushed to Snow's castle to gloat over the curse, she sought out the mirror. Needing to believe that her life would be better on the other side, she asked to see June. She was young but doing well. She seemed to like the home she was living in. Regina still didn't know where she was in the Land Without Magic, but she knew she'd find her as soon as they got there. She looked at the surroundings behind June and saw the date. It was October 31st, 1999. June was now fifteen and getting ready for a party with friends. Regina hoped that she would be able to see her soon. She knew that it would take a lot to convince her that she was Scylla, but she would. She wondered if the scar upon her left arm where she tore the scale from would be enough proof, but she doubted it. How could she convince the girl that magic was real and that she was the one that saved her from that man? She didn't know, but she would figure out once they were together, and of course, Snow was dead.

She beat the curse to Snow's castle and watched as she held a dying Charming in her arms. The curse swallowed everything whole, even Regina herself. And, even though, she knew that Snow's daughter was out there and could break the curse, she wasn't worried about it. This new life would be everything that she wanted, and Snow would do her bidding. She could only hope that she would end up somewhere near June. She knew that it wouldn't matter right away. She would make things right. She would destroy Snow and she would find a way to make June's life easier. She smiled as the dark purple smoke enveloped them and carried them away.  
She awoke in the morning. The room she was in was white. She was wearing gray silk pajamas. She looked out her window and saw a new world. Her new world in the land without magic and she couldn't help but wonder what things she'd be able to accomplish. Opening her closet, she found rows of power suits. Donning one, she made her way outside of her manor and to the street below. She found a rolled-up newspaper. She opened and immediately looked at the date. It was October 23, 1983.

"THAT IMP!" she screamed in rage.

He'd set her up again. The Curse worked in so much as it brought them to the land without magic, but it was in the past. June wasn't even born yet, or if she was, she   
was a newborn. There was no way that she could help her in that fashion. She didn't know where she was in order to adopt her.

She pulled the mirror out, "Show me June Black!"

The mirror swirled and swirled, but the fog never parted.

"Of course not, she hasn't been named yet. She doesn't exist here. I'll kill him..."

She stormed into town. She saw peasants and gentry alike milling about and mingling. They had no clue who or what they were.

"Morning, Madam Mayor," the cricket told her as he crossed the street walking his dalmation.

Finding Rumple became a priority. When she gathered that he was Mr. Gold of Gold's Pawnbroker, she paid him a visit. He looked very smug with himself.

"Ah, Madam Mayor, to what do I owe this honor?" he asked her.

"Cut the bullshit. You know why I'm here. Why did you do it?"

"I am not sure what you are talking about," he replied.

"You know who I am. Don't play coy with me. Why did you bring us here?" Regina demanded.

"This is my shop and you brought yourself here, Regina. I have no control of you. I never did."

She slammed the mirror down on the counter.

"This doesn't work because she doesn't exist. How can I show her the truth is she isn't who I thought she was? What I am supposed to do now?"

"Well, Dearie, I don't know. But, if you'd like, I'll give you money for that little trinket. That is if you have no use for it," he stated.

She looked at him. He had the audacity to smile at her. She wanted to smite him. She raised her hands to cast a spell and realized that she didn't have magic.

"Every decision has a price, Dearie. So, the mirror? How much?" he asked her.

Shaking her head, she picked it back up.

"It's not for sale," she told her.

She went back to house and found her car. Amazingly, she knew how to drive it. She pulled out of her driveway and headed for the edge of town. She picked up a   
peasant on her way, offering them a ride, a meal and a warm bed. Something told her to stop at the edge of town, she got the peasant out and pushed them over the imaginary line. Once they were over, they lost their way back into town and Regina knew that she was stuck in this town. She turned around to find the name of it: Storybrooke.

"This is my price," she said as she threw the mirror over the line, watching it shatter on the payment.

She was alone, but she'd gotten her revenge. She would just have to go back into town to see how glorious it was. Besides, she wanted to find out what role Snow had taken in town and how she could make it worse for her.


	14. A Girl and Her Dragon

Emma just stared up at Regina. She had no idea what to say. Her eyes were wide. There were so many questions she wanted to ask, but her tongue wouldn't work.

"Say something, Miss Swan."

That did it. Those words brought her back. Her lips formed a snarl and she almost spat as she hissed out her next words.

"My name is Emma Swan."

Regina had the decency to look properly chastised. She nodded at Emma, not trusting herself to speak anymore. She didn't know what to say to her anyway. She didn't know how to explain herself to her. How could she? How could she make Emma understand that she'd been worried about her for years, a feeling at the back of her mind, niggling and nagging with no resolution?

She knew when she landed in Storybrooke that she might never find June Black again. Now, not only was June Black sitting in front of her, she was Emma Swan, daughter of Snow White and David Charming. She was her son's birth mother. She was the breaker of the Curse and the Saviour prophesied to stop her reign. The girl that she lost sleep over was the woman she lost sleep over. Oh, how the wheels have turned. She didn't know what to do. She moved towards the table where her tumbler sat. She needed more to drink to deal with this, now.

"How long have you known?" Emma asked her.

"Known?"

"Who I was," Emma replied.

"Today."

"Today?"

"Yes, Miss...Emma, I learned that you were the girl I helped so many years ago today."

Emma's eyes watched her every movement, like she waiting for a coiled snake to strike. Instead, Regina moved slowly and with a purpose back to her desk. It was a defensive measure and they both knew it. She was putting her desk between them, a metaphorical and physical barrier.

"Why did you help me?" Emma asked.

"Originally or after I got there?"

"Both," Emma replied quietly.

"At first, I was repaying a debt owed by Rumple. I was still his apprentice. A being from another realm came to tell me about you and that they were scared of you. They didn't know how to help you help them. You baffled them. I was called in because Rumple simply didn't want to go. He figured since I was hated enough that I could be what they were looking for in order to scare you," Regina explained.

"But, you didn't scare me. You protected me. You stayed with me all night. Why?"

Regina looked down at her desk. She fiddled with her tumbler. She wasn't sure how much she should tell Emma.

"Because I recognized the signs as soon as I saw your eyes. I couldn't let you live like that. If I could, I would crawl out from under every bed of someone like that and deal with their own personal demons head on. I wasn't afforded that opportunity. As fate would have it, I was given you. I had no idea at the time who you were to me. Snow hadn't had you yet and I hadn't gone full Evil Queen."

"How is that possible?" Emma asked.

"Time moves differently between realms. You found this out when you went back to the Enchanted Forest through Jefferson's hat. Evidently, I came to you when you were about five, almost six, I think. When I cast the curse, we landed in Storybrooke the morning of your birth. I had no way of knowing who you were. And, when I realized that you...well, June hadn't been named June yet, I realized that there was nothing that I could do to help you. I hoped my scale would be enough to ward off any other potential abusers. I hoped that you would never have another reason to call on me."

"Why?"

Regina closed her eyes. When she opened them, she looked up into Emma's pain-filled eyes. The normal electric green was subdued and hidden. The anger wasn't as strong, but she knew that Emma was at her boiling point and she couldn't blame her.

"You've met my mother, but you never met my father. Oh, don't worry, Prince Henry of Felix never touched me. If he had, I wouldn't have named our son after him. My   
mother abused me in ways that I don't want to repeat in order to control me. But, she was easier to deal with than your grandfather."

"Snow's father?"

"Yes."

"Does she know?"

"No."

"You never told her?"

"Do you think that she would believe me? We've spent too much of our lives hating each other. We've tried to kill each other. We've banished each other. There are some things that you just don't do. And, telling her about her father, while cruel, would have crossed a line that I am not even comfortable crossing. So, forgive me for not shredding your mother's heart to pieces by telling her that her father was a rapist and almost a pedophile. I may hate her somedays, but that...that isn't something that I would do even as the Evil Queen," Regina explained.

"You aren't evil, Regina. You are just really angry, but now, I am beginning to understand. My family has never been kind to you...ever."

"Don't apologize for them, Emma. You are not to blame for your family's sins. My family hasn't been the kindest to yours, either. We've been fighting since your grandfather turned away my mother. I don't know whether to be grateful or not."

"Your mother killed my grandmother."

"And, your mother killed mine."

"Okay, so...well, yeah. Your mother was a real piece of work. But, that still doesn't explain why..."

"Your mother was a child and my step-daughter. I think that there was a part of me that didn't want her to die, but I was so clouded by anger that I couldn't find that   
place easily. I was so angry with her father, so I pushed that on her. She was angry because I had her father killed. I also tried to have her killed on several occasions, none of which ever worked. But, the same could be said of her. Every time she had the opportunity, she let me walk away. This curse was merely the extension of our war. It just changed the playing field," she explained.

"But, you never killed her."

"And, she never killed me."

"I don't understand why you were happy to cast the curse," Emma stated.

"It would give me a second chance at free life, a life that I wanted. I wanted to try and be better. I didn't want to be the Evil Queen. I was groomed to be here, but that   
was never what I wanted."

"What did you want?" Emma asked her.

"I wanted to be with Daniel. I didn't care if we lived in the country and were poor. Being the daughter of a prince gave me many opportunities, but my mother took most of them away. Her control of me started building my anger and my want to learn magic. I wanted to be stronger than she was. I needed to find a way to stand up to her. I couldn't do that one my own. I'd proven that over and over and over against with her. Coming here was a way for me to be free and try to find my happiness."

"But, you didn't?"

"No, I didn't."

"Did you ever try to be happy?"

"Yes, several times."

"Really?"

"I dated but no one could compare to Daniel. I tried to find you, but I didn't know where to look. I went to Rumple to have a child and I got Henry."

"I am sure that was a very uncomfortable conversation," Emma stated.

"You have no idea, but I was still hopeful. By 1988, I could use the mirror again to find you. But, there was a problem."

"Problem?" Emma probed.

"When I woke up here, I read the newspaper. I realized the date. Then I realized that June didn't exist on paper let along in real life. I was going to have to wait for years and even then I wasn't sure if I could even come find you. So, I started my searches.

"Do you know how many girls were born in late October in various Suffolk counties around the country? It was a staggering amount. The internet wasn't like it is today. Graham did everything he could, like the good Huntsman he was, to find you. Unfortunately, he didn't. It was like we could have certain contact without outside world," Regina stated.

"Did you ever try to leave?"

"Yes."

"But, you didn't?"

"Oh, I found that I was the only who could cross the town line and keep my memories very late in the game. The day that we came to be Storybrooke, I travelled to the town line and forfeited some man to figure things out. Magic always came with a price and not only did my father pay it, but you did as well."

"How?"

"I couldn't save you since I knew what was going to happen and when. I failed you and I failed myself that day. There were things that I could do, but I know that it might put Storybrooke on a list of small towns to come visit. We weren't prepared for that. We were meant to be. The Curse would provide everything for us...jobs,   
food, drink, housing and it did. I was content for the first few years, but as the time drew to your birthday..."

"What?"

"I wished that I still had my mirror to see you. I knew that sometimes your name would be changed and then the mirror would be able to find you again. Unfortunately, the first trip to the town line cost me that mirror," Regina told her.

"But..."

"I don't know how I got it back, Emma. I really don't. I watched it go sailing down the asphalt and break apart. To be holding it again in my hands today brought back so many memories and wants that I feel like I am breaking inside. I wanted to make sure that you...that June survived and was happy. When the fog in the glass parted and I saw you..."

"What?"

"I didn't know what to do. I thought that it was highly ironic that my own step-granddaughter's life was almost as bad as mine and that I ended raising her son. I was and am still at a loss. I don't know how to not worry about you. Maybe that is why I let you stay last night."

"Or..."

"I understand the nightmares. I understand doing whatever you can to make them go away. But, even I know that sometimes, we can't fight them alone."

"You took him on for me," Emma stated.

"I did."

"Why did you pick the form of a dragon?"

"It was the only poster in your room. I assumed that you liked the dragon pictured there. A dragon was a lot easier for me to glammor for you than trying to make myself into some kind of strange-looking monster like those that had been visiting you at night," Regina told her.

"Wait, so you're saying that Monster's Inc. is real?" Emma asked, eyes blown.

"Yes, Dear."

"I thought that it was just another Disney movie."

"Well, that is one of the few that they got right, Dear. All the way down to Roz. She is quite the character and I wonder who got her to allow the story to be told in this realm. She was very adamant that I not cross any lines with you, but I broke so many rules that night. I didn't care. I didn't want him touching you again. I wouldn't stand for it," Regina admitted.

"He didn't."

"I know."

"You know?"

"I saw him being arrested in the mirror. That actually caused me to allow things to return to normal for a while in the Enchanted Forest. I knew that you were alright, and you were being taken care of. I didn't need to find a portal to you to protect. I would have if needed, but I had my mirror. When in doubt, I asked to see you up until I threw it over the town line."

"Any now you have the mirror again?"

"I do."

"Any clue where it came from?"

"Yes."

"So?"

"It was in that sack that you took back to Rumple."

"Then it belongs to him," Emma started.

"It did once. It has been mine for years. And, I doubt that he has need of it, since Baelfire is back."

"Yeah, he is..."

"So, the Imp's son..."

"Don't."

"Was it good?" Regina asked, teasing her.

"Each your food. We've got to figure out what to do with the Lost Boys sometime today. And, just because I am hungry and changing the subject doesn't mean you are   
off the hook," Emma told her as she started passing out the food.

"I wouldn't dream of it, Emma. Nothing has ever been free for me. Not even being mayor. I always have to give up something."

"Not with me, you don't. You talked to me that night like an equal. You treated me well and stopped the situation at hand. This friendship has cost you what exactly, if   
you want it?" Emma asked her.

"A scar," Regina answered as she turned her arm again.

"Then, I'll return it."

"Keep it. You never know. You might need it one day and I would be unhappy to hear that I could have helped but wasn't called upon."

Emma smiled at her as she dug into her bacon cheeseburger. She watched Regina. There was something different about her when it was just them. Maybe it was because they understood each other. Maybe it was because they were mistreated as children. Maybe it was because they just wanted to be happy. But, maybe, just maybe, they could find more common ground and they could find a way to share Henry and be a weirdly constructed modern family.

"We'll see...especially around here."


End file.
